


A Twinsane Wedding

by Samjax



Category: Crash Bandicoot (Video Games)
Genre: Acceptance, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Anxiety, Apologies, Awkwardness, Backstory, Bonding, Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Comeback Story, Coming Out, Crash Twinsanity, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossdressing, Drama & Romance, Dysfunctional Family, Embarrassment, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Roller Coaster, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Family Drama, Fear, Feelings Realization, First Dates, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fractured family, Friendship/Love, Gay, Guilt, Honesty, Humiliation, Hurt/Comfort, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I love these 2 dorks, Idiots in Love, Inspired by Fanart, Lies, Love Confessions, Love Shrine, Love/Hate, Lovesickness, M/M, Making Up, Marriage Proposal, Mixed Emotions, Mother-Son Relationship, Nervousness, Obsession, One True Pairing, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Torture, Perfect Example of The Odd Couple, Plot Twists, Possible Musical Number, Post-Canon Fix-It, Protective Siblings, Rating May Change, Reformation, Relationship(s), Repressed Memories, Revenge, Scheming, Science, Secrets, Slow Build, Suspense, Suspicions, Team Up, Tears, Tension, Therapy, Threats, Trust, Trust Issues, Truth Serum, Undercover, Various references to other Crash Games, Weddings, Working with the Enemy, broken relationship, raging, rivalries, shoulder angel and devil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 60,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24116206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samjax/pseuds/Samjax
Summary: Twinsanity AU. Sometimes the person you hate the most is often the one you love the most. Love works in mysterious ways, but it's especially strange if you've been bitter enemies for so long. After  getting Cortex out of Crash's head and some therapy sessions that were suggested by Coco, Cortex can't seem to shake something he's been feeling for Crash. Leading to a discovery about him and something that the scientist never imagined he'd be asking....especially to Crash. Cortex x Crash
Relationships: Crash Bandicoot/Neo Cortex
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Love works in mysterious ways, but it's especially strange if you've been bitter enemies for so long. They say that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Of course, sometimes the person you hate the most almost always ends up being 'the one' you're destined to be with. In some cases, you just have to give it a chance, and see where it leads.

Coco paced around the lab frantically, her eyes wide and her face was glazed over with worry. Nina walked over to the control panel on the computer to see if she could untangle this mess. Her uncles plan to use the Psychetron to do away with Crash had malfunctioned, and instead of permanently banishing him back to the 10th dimension for good, the evil scientist had been zapped and transported into Crash's brain.

In Cortex's opinion, it was the worst and absolute last place he ever wanted to be. It was like a horrible nightmare come to life, with about a hundred Crash Bandicoots all doing the famous victory dance in synch. But Cortex was sure he would be out soon enough. Even though she wasn't evil, he had every ounce of confidence in his niece. Currently, everything was riding on her shoulders.

"W-what are we going to do?" Coco looked tword the goth girl who was busy looking for a way to reverse the Psychetron. "Crash, stay there on that platform and don't move, we'll find a way to fix all this." Of course, in his sisters general opinion of Neo Cortex, he did kind of deserve this.

He had stunned Coco with his newly rebuilt ray gun, and stole her clothes to impersonate her, and trick Crash into following him right into a trap to finish him off (which sadly did not pan out as expected), so what was the harm in leaving him in there? A smirk came over her face as she thought about that idea. No, she didn't want any part of Cortex, all she wanted right now was him out of Crash's head.

Pushing the evil plan out of her mind, Coco strolled over to Nina. "Any luck?" She wondered. The other girl shook her head no and began to pace the floor. "Darn, well anyone else got any bright ideas?" The bandicoot wondered. "Aku Aku?" The good side of the Aku Uka brothers was looking at a device on Cortex's work bench.

Uka Uka floated tword him, even though a thought was running through him. If the Evil Twins were still alive, he could still, and would have delivered Dr. Cortex straight to them for revenge. But, luckily for Cortex, his pet parrots Victor and Moritz has been devoured by Evil Crash. However, the scientist didn't know about their gruesome end at the hands of the feral bandicoot on Twinsanity Island.

"Coco, Nina, I think I found the answer to help us in our little predicament." The witch doctor answered.

"Well, what is it feathers? Tell us." Nina urged, as she followed the bandicoot over to him. She wanted her uncle freed just as much as Coco. She could care less about Crash though.

The magical tiki mask gestured twords Cortex's work station which was littered with blueprints for new weapons, multiple tools, notes and other items. Amongst the little hodgepodge of stuff, the group found a sticky note stuck onto a portable tape recorder. Nina picked it up and read the note, _'Record for later and play back anytime I need to remember how to reverse this machine.'_

Coco turned to Crash who was juggling Wumpa Fruit, then back to Nina, "well, what are you waiting for? Press play! She demanded.

"Alright, alright, hold your horses." Pressing the button, this is what they heard,

_"Better take note of this just to be safe. And also so I don't forget, ok note to self, if the Psychetron needs to be thrown into reverse, unscrew the panel located at the top of the machine, open it up and flip the red switch from forward back to reverse. Remember, the red switch, not the blue button right next to it. The blue button is a self destruct feature. Hold up, now that I'm thinking about it, doesn't the red button almost always mean bad news? Woah woah, hold the phone, why would I even install a button like that on here in the first place?! What was I even thinking?! Dang it! Nice going Cortex!"_

Everyone shook their heads at that remark. That was Dr. Cortex for you, never taking a second glance at what he was doing.

_"Ok, ignore that last part, just again, flip the red switch. I've tested it on an apple I sent through it and it came back just fine. Of course, a human or mutant would be a whole different story. Hold on a second..._

_I've done it! I tested this on another crazed kangaroo and success, I've managed to teleport it from here, to the 10th dimension and then back again, all without fail or mishap. So again, just hit the reverse switch if you want to beam something back into this dimension, of if you just want to throw it into reverse to see if only that or something different will happen._

_Cortex out._ ' With that, the tape ended.

"Do you really think a reverse switch will work?" Aku Aku asked, now looking slightly scared as Coco climbed up and threw the switch. "Cause if you remember correctly, this machine malfunctioned. Oh wait. I've got a solution." A light began eminatting from him and in a snap the machine was fully repaired. "Nina?" He asked. Nina recalled what had happened earlier when they had to get this working. Raising her hand, she banged the side of the panel and it started up.

Crash blinked and looked up as bright lights flashed and the machine began to hum and spin. The same flash that had blinded Cortex spread over the bandicoot. A small electrical shockwave spread over his body. It disappeared in an instant after hitting him. He looked quizzically over at everyone, who shrugged their shoulders and scratched their heads.

"Do you think it worked? Cause I..." Coco's sentence was cut short as the white light returned to where her brother was standing. She jumped down off the machine and ran for safety in case something went wrong, while Crash backed up against the wall to get away. Everyone shielded their eyes to avoid being blinded. When it died down, a figure laid there on the ground. Nina shut down the Psychetron and joined the group.

Everyone was amazed with the results. Finally something that Cortex said actually worked. "Nice going team." Aku Aku commented.

Dr. Cortex groaned as he hauled himself to his feet. He then felt himself from head to toe. The scientist was amazed, he was completely unharmed. "Yes, I'm unharmed! Woo hoo!" He turned around to find Crash and the rest of them staring right at him. Their eyes wide and their mouths hanging open in complete shock. "Thank you, Nina, you're a good niece." He brushed himself off, not even acknowledging Coco or the others who had brought him back, "I knew installing a reverse switch was a good idea. Now I can get back to..."Cortex trailed off as soon as he saw Crash with his usual happy smile. A feeling of rage came over him. "YOU! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" The man seethed.

He took a jump at the marsupial who dropped the fruit and started to run but Coco grabbed him and held him back. "Boys please, let's not go at each others throats now. Cortex as much as I wanted to leave you inside my brothers brain, I just couldn't. You two need to sort out your issues asap. Lucky for you, I happen to know someone in the Native Village in Totem Hokum who could help. Here's his card, now go and work this out."

"But I, he..." Cortex started to say.

"Now!'' She snapped, causing Cortex to flinch in terror. "Geez, you haven't been here for thirty seconds and you're ready to kill my brother?! Get out!" The doctor groaned, took the card and Coco, along with Nina pushed them tword the door.

"Wow, your sister's touchy." Cortex noted as him and Crash walked out the door and stepped onto the platform to take them down to the bottom. Which was their only exit and entrance both into and out of Iceberg Lab, since the button refused to cooperate with Cortex. "I guess there's no avoiding this. And fyi, she scares me." Crash nodded his head in agreement. That was one item on a very short list of things they actually agreed on.

They headed down tword the boat that sat waiting to take Crash back to N. Sanity Island. "Let's just get this over with." Cortex grumbled as the unlikely pair boarded the vessel and set off back to Totem Hokum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my idea of what happened between the ending cutscene and the 100 % video for the NSTC version of this game. A little look as to how I think Cortex got free and when they started therapy. As for the whole Psychetron thing, I just thought I'd add a little humor into the mix. Or try to anyway. :P And yes, the self destruct button on the machine, got some inspiration from Phineas and Ferb. And yes, I know I reversed the colors. Just to mix it up a little. I am so bad. 
> 
> Alright until next time, keep smiling!


	2. First Therapy Session

The voyage back to N. Sanity Island was, a bit of a quiet one. With neither of the two doing anything or mouthing even one word. Just the sound of the waves and the boat rocking against them.

What was surprising to both of them is that neither one had tried to kill the other on the ride over.

When they finally docked, Crash and Cortex hopped off and headed through the forest. Hoping that they wouldn't get caught and captured by Papu Papu and the local residents when they finally reached their destination.

Cortex stopped after a few steps. "You know Crash, why don't you take the lead? I don't want to have remember what happened here before. Alright?" Crash couldn't beleive his ears, his creator was giving him a chance at something?

The bandicoot nodded yes and they continued walking, but just when they thought it would be a walk in the park, Cortex stepped on a twig, breaking it in two with a loud snap. 'Oh now I've gone and done it.' A local turned his head and shouted something in a foreign language. "Oh boy. Hide." The scientist grabbed Crash and pulled him down.

The natives caught a glimpse of a white lab coat just as Cortex and Crash ducked behind a bush. Curious, two men walked over and raised their spears. They jabbed their weapons straight into the shrub and right into Cortex's side. "Oh..." He struggled to hold back his scream, but it was to no avail. "Ahhhhh!" Both of them jumped out from hiding and started to run. The tribesfolk signaled Papu Papu and they headed after the duo. Crash looked back at them, eyes wide. "Don't look back, just keep running! I don't wanna be tied to a totem pole again!" Once was enough for poor Cortex. "Why do they hold a grudge against me?!" He cried. "What did I ever do?!"

Crash and Cortex were running for what felt like forever, until a switch clicked inside Crash's semi empty head when they entered the village. He scurried up a tree and lept to a vine. Dr. Cortex jumped up to grab it as Crash swung forward, but his hands missed and he ended up slamming face first into the trunk of the tree. As his eyes were still spinning, Crash grabbed him and hoisted him up, before swinging them up and over the railing of one of the larger straw huts. It was about the size of the Academy of Evil.

Papu Papu and the others shook their heads and retreated. As soon as they were safe, Cortex fell backward onto the floor, and tried to catch his breath. "Why... did I have... you t-take the lead? Haven't you...already...h-h-hurt me enough?" The man wheezed. "Forget it, let's just find the therapist." After a minute of lying down, he stood up and noticed the bandicoot focused on a sign in front of them. It said read "The Therapist Is In" Tilting his head, Crash knocked on the door. "Looks like we found it. Yay." Cortex's voice was lined with sarcasm.

The door opened and there stood a man who looked like the other natives, except for being fully clothed: he donned a checkered shirt and dress pants underneath a lab coat. He spoke in perfect English, "Ah, hello there. I'm Dr. Jacobson. I take it you two are Crash Bandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex?" The duo nodded. Dr. Jacobson smiled and gestured for them to come in. "Nice to meet you. Right this way." He shut the door behind them.

"Ok, Crash, Cortex, first off, I'm amazed that you two are here, because usually some rivals that I've helped always have a tendency to procrastinate and then not show up at all. Well done, glad you're here." He looked at his notebook/calendar. "You guys are my 4:00 appoinment, and my only appointment for the day. Lucky me. That and you guys are 15 minutes early."

Dr. Cortex rolled his eyes as he followed the brainless bandicoot and Dr. Jacobson tword his office. He couldn't beleive that he had been forced to do this.

'Nina and Coco are going to be in so much trouble when I'm through with them.' He thought. 'Can't beleive that they suggested me and Crash start therapy sessions focused on our "issues". I don't need this, I need to destroy Crash and rule over the islands with an iron fist! Is that too much to ask!' As they trekked down the long corridor, Cortex thought about what kind of punishment he could give his neice.

Cortex was pulled back to reality when they stepped inside the therapists office. Various framed diplomas and certificates of authentication decorated the walls. A large bookself held multiple types of books ranging from countless categories which included, 'Mending A Broken Relationship' and 'Building Up Your Self Esteem' to 'Is It Hate, Love, or Something Much Deeper?' The doctor took one glance at that title, turned away and shuddered.

A cold chill ran through his veins. Was that because the A/C was turned on? Or was it something else? Crash looked at him curiously. Cortex wiped the nervous look off his face and glared at him with a scowl.

"Have a seat gentlemen. Cortex, your neice informed me about you and Crash here."

"Oh, she did, did she?" Cortex asked through gritted teeth. Taking a seat, he shook his head.

"Yes, she was here about a week ago and gave me the whole rundown on you two." Dr. Jacobson looked at Crash who was reaching for the bowl of Wumpa Fruit on the table. He stopped himself when the therapist noticed him. Crash frowned and pulled his hand back. "No, no please, help yourself, just picked those fresh this morning. So please, enjoy." Crash smiled his toothy grin and plucked the two biggest ones up.

"He's a fruit addict. This is literally the only thing he eats." Cortex said. The bandicoot held out his arm and offered the scientist one, who swatted it right out of his hand, it rolled away under the table. "No, Crash, I don't want one. I just want out of here!"

Dr. Jacobson raised an eyebrow and refocused his eyes on the marsupial, who shrugged and bit into the juicy fruit. "Now, now, no need to snap, I can sense there's one heck of a rivalry between you two. Coco said you two needed help, and judging by what I just saw, she was totally on point. Both her and Nina were right, and they came here together. I sense there's something between them as well, but they said I should focus on you guys for now." Crossing his legs, he clicked his pen, he was ready to start writing. "So tell me, when did this rivalry start? Go back to the begining."

Cortex and Crash laid back on the sofa and Cortex explained everything, "Well, I created Crash Bandicoot myself years ago, he was meant to be the general of my army, only downside was that I failed to turn him evil. My own failed creation. He's just a mindless marsupial, an idiot to put it simply, and I've never been able to rule over the islands because of it. He foils my plans and beats me every time. I don't understand!"

The therapist looked at him wide eyed, clearly interested in knowing more, "really? If you say he's an idiot, then how come you've never been able to beat him?"

Cortex froze. He turned to Crash who crossed his eyes and stuck out his tounge. "I...well, I never thought of it like that." Jacobson scribbled things down on the paper. "Crash, I never considered that before. You might be smarter than you look. Oh what am I saying?" Cortex couldn't beleive that he had just heard those words come out of his own mouth.

"And you can't stand him, is that correct?"

"As far as you know doctor. We had been forced to work together to stop the Evil Twins, who were my pet parrots from my childhood from destroying N. Sanity Island. We did suceed, but along the way he used me as a hammer to beat up enemies, threw me across gaps to pull switches, and even used me as a board on both snow and rock to help us get down a hill, and he kicked me over the railing twice and believe me when I say that was not at all fun. First time, I didn't even see it coming."

"Wow, so you suffered a great amount of abuse from Crash. And here I thought he was sweet."

"Sweet is definitely not the word I'm thinking of. Can we be done now?" Cortex asked as he and Crash sat up.

Even though he wanted to interject and stretch this session a little further, Dr. Jacobson honored his wish. "Ok, we can be done, but I do ask that you two return next week for another session so we can pick up where we left off. Same time as today. Alright? Think you guys can do that?" Crash gave a thumbs up. "Cortex?"

As much as he wanted to march straight out of the office, slam the door behind him and never come back, Dr. Cortex complied and said yes. "Yes, alright. You win, we'll be back." Cortex and Crash started tword the door. Halfway there, he turned back to Jacobson and asked. "Um, just how many sessions are there going to be?"

"As many as it takes to get you two to stop fighting. I'll tell you about the next session when it gets here. See you next week." Cortex sighed as he and Crash climbed down the ladder, he really didn't want to come back. Sadly he didn't think he had a choice in the matter.

"Well, that was something wasn't it?" Crash nodded yes. He reached his arms out to hug his creator, but Cortex slapped his hands away. "Don't...you...dare." A spear whistled through the air and came within inches of piercing the man right through the neck. It wedged itself into the tree trunk. "Ahhhhh!" Jumping into Crash's arms, Cortex whimpered and shook with fright. "On second thought, I'lI make an exception. Now let's get out of here! I hate this place!"

The bandicoot sprinted back tword the jungle, past Farmer Ernest, and back to the boat. Crash lept on and they set off back to Iceberg Lab. Cortex's teeth were chattering as he wrapped his arms tighter around Crash, clearly he was still shaken. "T-t-thank you f-for almost getting me killed! You really are the worst creature I-I have ever m-mutated!" Crash started to set Cortex down but was stopped midway. "No, no, you don't have to set me down just yet. Wait till we get back."

Crash was surprised, but in a good way. His nemesis who had been trying to do away with him now wanting to be comforted. The bandicoot happily tightened his embrace on the scientist as the boat swayed back and forth.

'Why did I just ask him to comfort me? Do I really think of him as an idiot?' Cortex reached for his ray gun in his back pocket as he thought about that.


	3. Mixed Emotions

On the ride back to the lab, Cortex took out his ray gun. He was contemplating on weather or not to blast his nemesis right here and now. As Crash was looking out to sea while at the same time rocking him back and forth, Cortex turned the dial on his weapon from a dazed, crazy eyed face, (the Stun setting) to a light pink smiley with dark pink heart shaped eyes.

 _'The Love setting. Why did I install this setting on here in the first place?'_ He scratched his chin, trying to remember. _'That's right, I was trying to get a girlfriend. Man, why have I never been able to get one?'_

Cortex had never been one with the ladies, and N. Brio and N. Gin were the closest thing that the scientist had to 'friends'. Even though N. Brio had betrayed Cortex by siding with Crash to help him destroy the Cortex Vortex by way of collecting every gem, he knew that he didn't want his master to be alone with the others and Uka Uka, so he came back in the end, Brio wanted to remain loyal to him.

 _'The only people I've got are Nina, N. Brio and N. Gin. Nobody else would want a failure like me. Uka Uka's already got it in for me, been only a few days since his last defeat. N. Tropy would just like for me to succeed in destroying Crash for once. But, do I really want to destroy him? I mean I hate him, and I could easily do away with him right here.'_ He set his weapon from the happy heart eyed face to a skull sign.

This was the disintegrate setting. One hit on anything (including human, or creature) would instantly vaporise them into nothing.

 _'Yeah, with just one blast I could easily erase him right out of my life forever. I'd be free.'_ As he started to pull the trigger, he felt something inside him. A little voice telling him something else. He growled in frustration. _'No I can't do it, why can't I just get rid of him right now?'_ Cortex shoved his weapon back into his pocket. He looked up at Crash who looked back at him and smiled. While the man gave a semi smile back at him. Pretty soon, they were back at the lab. The bandicoot hopped off and sat Cortex down. They walked over and stepped onto the same platform they had used to get down to get back up.

The pair headed back into the lab. Coco was pacing the floor, clearly still as nervous as ever. "Oh, I hope Crash is ok. You know how long Cortex has been after him."

"Cortex is nothing but a failure! He's failed me at least three times! I can't believe I helped you bring him back!" Uka Uka roared.

"I've failed you only twice, not three times. Once with the crystals and gems and the other time when you summoned the Elementals. And me and Crash did defeat you not to long ago, and together we all managed to beat the Evil Twins." Cortex reminded him as he and Crash walked over.

"Crash! Oh thank goodness, I thought Cortex would have tried to kill you?" Coco shouted as she threw her arms around her brother.

"Nope, I didn't try to kill him, but the Natives and Papu Papu sure took their swing at me." Cortex turned sideways and showed them the stab wound, he soon started to feel a little pain in the area. When he looked down, he saw blood was now seeping through his coat, turning it from white to red, "Ok, this wounds getting worse, and I almost got turned into a human shish kebab! Inches away from being speared right through the neck!" Crash nodded.

"I'll go get the first aid supplies." Nina said.

"Cortex, exactly how many people are mad you?" Coco wondered.

"Hm, let's see, Papu Papu and the natives, the Evil Twins, Uka Uka, almost every member of the N Team except for N Gin, Madam Amberly, you. And I think that's it."

"That's quite a list."

Nina returned with a cotton gauze, a roll of medical tape and a bottle of disinfectant in her hands. "Come with me Uncle Neo, let's get you cleaned up." The scientist nodded and followed the young girl. "Yikes, why do so many people hate you?"

"I'm not sure Nina. I have no idea why. You don't hate me do you?" Cortex's neice was shocked. Why would her uncle even ask that?

"Why on Earth would I ever hate you? I mean sure, you replaced my regular hands with bionic ones but they're so much better. We're family, that means we stick together, and you're the only one I've got." They entered a room with dim florencent lights. Nina helped Cortex up onto an examining table, causing him to wince in pain. "Ok, now let's see how bad this injury is." She lifted up his lab coat, her eyes widened as she saw streaks of fresh crimson blood running down his side, she grabbed a towel and wiped up the excess. "Yeah, it looks like the natives did a number on you, the wound doesn't look too deep." Nina opened the bottle and soaked the gauze. "Now this is gonna sting a bit, so brace yourself." She warned. Cortex nodded his head. As soon as the cotton hit the wound, her uncle gritted his teeth and gripped the table to keep from squirming. "Sorry. Oh and forgot to ask, how was therapy?"

Cortex didn't want to lie, so he gave his honest opinion. Taking a minute to collect himself and take a deep breath, (hoping this would distract him from the pain) he spoke, "You know, it wasn't all that bad. I don't even know why I complained to Coco about it." He then remembered what Dr. Jacobson said. "Oh and speaking of Coco, Dr. Jacobson said there might be some kind of rivalry between you two as well. But he wants to stay focused on us for right now. And I can't believe that I'm about to say this but he really isn't too bad at his job. In fact, he's quite good. He said he wants me and Crash back next week for another session."

"And you're going to go back?" Nina wondered, as she cut the bandage and started wrapping it around Cortex's middle, nice and snug.

"Yes, I told Jacobson that we'd be back. But why does his office have to be in Totem Hokum? Cause that has to be the worst place in all of N. Sanity Island. I've kind of got a bit of a reputation there."

"Not a matter of choice, he wanted to stay in the village. You see, Dr. Eric Jacobson used to be one of Papu Papu's minions years ago, but he chose to follow a different path. Because he was the only one of them that spoke English and was capable of forming words, he didn't want to walk the path of evil and he rarely leaves his office except to restock his fruit bowl."

"So, he chose to become a therapist and help people with their issues?"

"Now you're catching on. And I'm shocked that you want to go back, I mean you did complain earlier." Nina gave one last tug on the bandage and applied the tape before pulling down his coat. "There you go, all better." She gave him a pat on the back and helped him down off the table. "Ready to head back out?" Cortex nodded.

"You really are a good niece. Thanks for fixing me up. And I'm sorry for complaining."

"No problem. Let's go." They headed back out to the main part of the lab. Immediately when she saw Coco, Nina cringed at the thought of her and the sister of her uncles worst enemy having to go through therapy sessions. "Coco, you're not gonna beleive this but Dr. Jacobson says there might be a rivalry between us as well as my uncle and your brother."

"Yeah, us Bandicoots and Cortex's have never really gotten along with each other have we?" Coco asked.

"Nope, you all practically want to kill each other if you even look in the others general direction." Uka Uka said, glaring at his brother. "Well, we'd better be getting back to our temporary shelter on N. Sanity Island, since 'somebody' destroyed our space station years ago. And Cortex told me about what you did to his old castle and the Cortex Vortex as well." Crash gave a nervous smile when the witch doctor said that. He rubbed the back of his neck and slowly walked backward. Clearly Cortex's old boss was still holding a grudge against him.

"And we're heading back home as well. Since we're all going the same way, I guess we'll head back together." Aku Aku replied.

"Really, us all together in the same boat? On a two minute ride back to the island? Yeah like that's gonna end well." Cortex commented. "Well, let's go." Of course in his mind, he couldn't seem to let go of the image of him being comforted by Crash, or the title of that book Dr. Jacobson had in his office. What was going through his mind about all that? His brain hurt just thinking about it. ' _I only feel hate for him, there's no possible way I could feel anything else, could I?'_ He pondered that as they all headed down to the boatsman.


	4. Coco vs Cortex vs Conflict

Coco was keeping a close eye on Cortex as the group headed back to the boat. As the boatsman welcomed them and they hopped aboard, chills ran through him again. Cortex felt Coco's glare burning a hole in the back of his head, clearly she was uneasy. As he turned around to face her, a lump formed in his throat and he found it hard to swallow. "Um, you ok Coco?" He asked nervously.

"Don't start with me Cortex." The female bandicoot grabbed the scientist by the neck of his lab coat and pulled him close to her face, "Look at my face, do I look ok?!" She seethed.

"Um, no." Cortex quivered under her gaze. "You're still mad at me aren't you?"

"Yes, you zapped me and then impersonated me! That's just wrong!"

"Well, I needed Crash to follow me to the bay."

"So you could finish him off! Why I outta beat you up right now!" Coco curled her hand into a fist and pulled her arm back, ready to sock him right in the face.

Aku Aku floated above them, "Guys, please, does violence ever solve anything?"

Coco looked tword her brother and Nina who gave a look of compassion for Cortex. She then locked eyes again with the scientist who started to have tears in his. He practically started begging for his life. "Please, don't hurt me! I've already suffered enough pain today and throughout my entire life! Look, I'm sorry, for what I did and I know you have every right to be mad at me, but think about it, there is a very short list of people who care about me and your brother is on that list! Do you really want to complicate things for him as well as my niece?!" There was a long pause as the female bandicoot thought long and hard to Cortex's plead.

She sighed and let him go. "Fine, I won't beat you up for my brothers sake and cause of what Aku Aku said but I'm still keeping my eye on you." As soon as he was free (after getting the 'I'm watching you' gesture), Cortex dashed over behind Nina and Crash. He trembled with fright. Soon he felt two hands on his shoulders, one from Crash and the other from Nina.

"There, there it's alright." Nina reassured, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. Crash did the same. Coco just rolled her eyes when she saw that. She didn't think Cortex deserved any pity from Crash.

The group decided to say nothing for the rest of the ride back. When they came back to in N. Sanity Island, Cortex gestured for Nina and Coco to go before him and Crash. Nina hopped down onto the dock first but Coco stayed put. Crash decided to go ahead.

Dr. Cortex motioned for Coco to go since it was "ladies first" but Crash's sister shoved the scientist forward, causing him to lose his footing and fall over the bow of the boat. He landed face first into the sand. The impact also jarred the spear wound on his lower abdomen making his side feel as if it was on fire.

Cortex lifted his head up and spat up a huge mouthful of sand, "And the pain continues but you know I deserved that." Nina helped him to his feet, and brushed him off. "Thank you, boy I can not catch a break today." He looked tword Crash who gave a warm smile, but looked away as soon as he did. The bandicoot then walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around him. Cortex gazed up at him and gave him a blank, emotionless stare like he was lost in thought about something. He couldn't bring himself to speak either.

"Well, this is where we divide for now." Aku Aku replied.

"Right, Cortex, Nina we must be off back to our castle...um temporary shelter. Sorry, the castle's still being repaired." Even though he had helped the group to take down Victor and Moritz and the fact that he had been bested by Crash Bandicoot before that occurred, Uka Uka was still holding onto his one goal of wanting to rule the world. Eliminating the Evil Twins was just part of it, that orange marsupial was next, "But, mark my words bandicoots, the world will be ours one day!"

"I really thought we could work together from now on?" His brother asked.

Uka Uka scoffed, "Sorry, but you guys are good, while me, Cortex and the rest of our team are evil, that's just the way it is. Conflict, good versus evil."

"Woah, woah, wait I thought you were still peeved at Cortex? He did fail you so many times already. So why are you giving him another chance?" Coco wondered as her brother let Cortex go.

"Because, he wants to prove that he can come up an 'Earth shattering' plan for world domination. Personally, I've got my hopes in N Brio and N Tropy instead. Those two have more brain power together than what Cortex has in his entire head."

 _'Oh, burned.'_ Nina thought. _'Someone get the fire extinguisher.'_ She covered her mouth to muffle a chuckle. Luckily her uncle didn't notice her doing that.

"Yeah... hey!" Cortex spat. "How dare you?! If anything, I'm probably the smartest, next to N Tropy. I mean, N. Gin is just a plain old lunatic. And beleive me, if you had a live missile impailed into your head and then it was rewired into a metal plate to be a life support system, wouldn't you be a little on edge too?"

"Right...well see ya! Don't want to know anymore!" Coco zipped off back tword the cave that connected Totem Hokum to the outer part of N. Sanity Island where their house resided. She was ready to get as far away from them as possible. While Crash on the other hand waved a goodbye to Dr. Cortex, who cringed just looking at him, before heading back tword the shelter with his neice and Uka Uka. Crash smiled and sprinted after his sister. Cortex stopped midway and turned back around to watch him disappear into the tunnel.

 _'He was nice enough to comfort me, and he saved my life, even if he did almost get me killed.'_ The man tried to remember what it was he hated about his nemisis, but he couldn't bring the list to mind. _'I'm the villian and he's the hero. After being defeated by him for so long, I don't think I could bear the thought of destroying him. Could I? No, Uka Uka would fire me for not wanting to eliminate him.'_ Cortex swallowed heavily.

In a poof of smoke, two smaller versions of himself appeared on his shoulders: one donned a white robe and a golden halo, he had wings on his back and was clutching a harp in his hands. The other one was clothed all in red with horns on his head, a spiked tail, and holding a pitchfork in his grasp.

The angel and devil of internal conflict. One with a smile, the other with a wicked grin.

"Hello doctor." The devil version of him gazed at him and smirked. "Can we chat a minute?"

Cortex looked back and forth from the angel to the devil, he wasn't so sure about this. "Um...ok. What do you want to say?"

"Well, it's just that you seem a little conflicted about things." The angel started off.

"Yeah, when you were pressed right up against Crash seeking comfort from him, you pulled out your ray gun and then you don't blast him?! Are you nuts?!" The devil raised his pitchfork, ready to stab him in the eyes. Cortex flinched at that.

He looked back and forth between the two, "It seems that you're torn in two, on one hand you want him out of your life, but on another note, when the two of you are together and you get yourself into trouble, you seek solace from him. Right? Be honest, just think of this like therapy."

The scientist knew that the angel was spot on, he knew that there was no hiding or lying when the angel and devil got involved in someone's life. "Alright, I am torn, I mean I always thought that the old saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend was nothing but a pile of nonsense, now I'm starting to realize that it might be true."

"I agree, it is a pile of nonsense and I..." The devil was cut off when the angel flew in front of him, swatting him in the face, he choked on the others feather wings. "That was uncalled for!" He shouted, spitting up feathers.

"Shush! Don't listen to him, listen to me. Cortex, stop listening to your head. Listen your heart and you can't go wrong. Alright?"

After thinking it all through, Dr. Cortex nodded at the angel and flicked the devil off of his shoulder. "I will be back!" He shouted.

"You're right. I should stop focusing on the negatives and zone in on the positives. Thank you for the talk. I feel better." With a nod, the mini versions of him disappeared. "Crash really isn't so bad, sure he's goofy but he does have a slight brain in his head. Let's just see if I feel any different tomorrow." With a smile on his face, Cortex sprinted to catch up with Nina and Uka Uka


	5. Cortex Takes A Stand

Cortex ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He was almost out of breath multiple times while he tried to catch up with his niece and Uka Uka. He couldn't even remember how he managed to not collapse from exhaustion, with all the running he had to do when him and Crash faced off against those enemies. Everything they had to do to reach the 10th dimension; all the struggles, all the obstacles, and all the drama between the pair in general, "Hey don't...leave me...behind." He panted. Then it struck him right as he said that, he didn't want them both to die.

Looking over her shoulder, Nina backtracked and slung an arm around him, she couldn't have him collapsing on her, "Here, I've got you."

"Thank you." Cortex thought long and hard about what he was going to say to her next before speaking, and also so he had time to catch his breath, "Um Nina, I've been thinking about something, and I wanna run it by you."

"Ok, shoot."

"Well, it's just that I said I failed Uka Uka only twice but that's not entirely true, I've failed him at least five times: once with creating Crash and failing to make him my general of the Cortex Commandos, then the Super Cortex Vortex, which was destroyed by Crash also as he teamed up with my old colleague N Brio to collect gems, time travel to defeat Crash with the help of N Tropy, and then with the Elementals and Crunch my super weapon. That plan ended with Crash and Coco snapping Crunch out from under my control and then they made him a part of their family. So there you have it, I have failed him so many times before, way more than twice. So who knows where that's gonna lead in the future."

Nina's eyes widened, "Really? Wow I never knew all that, so Coco was right about multiple failures. So then why did you say you've only failed him two times when we were in the lab? Why did you lie?" This was the first time she had ever heard about all of his past failed attempts. Both how they were all concocted and how they all panned out in the end, which was a horrible defeat each time, but now Nina had been given the general idea.

Cortex sighed and rubbed his head, his mind was currently elsewhere, but he tried to answer his nieces question as best he could, "I don't know, maybe because of my injury. Fuzzy memory due to blood loss..." He replied. "Luckily Uka Uka didn't seem to notice that I lied." A nervous chuckle escaped him.

"That's actually, understandable, when you lose blood, you aren't getting enough oxygen to the brain. And that can cause memory loss." The man looked at her quizzically, where did she learn all that? "Oh, the medical knowledge, I looked through some old books when I was at the academy. I found them in a storage closet, Madem Amberly must have confiscated them." 

Her uncle smiled, "Well it definitely paid off, you would make a good nurse. And to be honest, I think I like you better not being evil." The girl reciprocated and smiled back. Another thought entered his head soon after he said that. "And one other thing, I'm thinking I might not want to work for him anymore."

"You mean Uka Uka?"

"You know of any other evil witch doctor masks who scare me out of my wits and give me nightmares?"

"No. So you're saying you've had enough of him?" Cortex nodded. "Well if you don't want to work under him anymore, why don't you say anything? I mean when you, me, and Crash teamed up against the Evil Twins, you took a stand against them. So maybe try something similar in this scenario?" Nina suggested.

Cortex had almost forgotten about that, "You're absolutly right, I did take a stand against them because I saw what you had done. I wasn't going to be a scardey cat anymore, I knew that I had to do something. For was not about to let my childhood pets rule over the islands and take their revenge on me and again it was also my fault for turning them evil in the first place." He straightened his posture and stood tall, "You're right Nina, I've just got to tell Uka Uka that I'm not going to be his little puppet anymore! He can't pull the strings and control my life! And maybe, he's the reason I keep failing!" Cortex watched as Uka Uka floated up tword a large cliff where their shelter resided. Anger bubbled up inside him.

The devil reappeared on his shoulder, "Go get him Cortex, show him who's boss!"

Soon after, the angel appeared again but instead of a smile, he narrowed his eyes and smirked, "Now, normally I would never be on the same page with this evil kenivel, about anything, ever but I have to agree with him just this once. He snapped his fingers and summoned a mini trumpet and blew the charge fanfare "Charge!" He pointed tword the cliff, giving an evil grin.

Their words caused something inside Cortex's mind to snap. His confident smile soon turned into a devilish grin as well, his hands curling into fists and his teeth clenched. As he pulled out his ray gun, the scientist let out a battle cry and kicked it into overdrive, charging at a full sprint to catch up with the witch doctor mask.

 _'Wow, he's finally standing up to him, looks like my advice worked.'_ Nina was impressed, her uncle was done being driven to the point of insanity by his boss. She kept walking, but didn't take her eyes off of him as he scaled the cliff, completely ignoring his spear injury while he did.

He was so focused on getting back at him for that comment about him being dumber than Tropy and Brio, that Cortex didn't even think about being out of breath by the time he got to him. Cortex was craving revenge!

The mask reached the top of the cliff but turned around and looked down below when he heard faint cries growing louder and louder. Dr. Cortex leapt up over the edge and stood there in the grass, his boss raised an eyebrow, curiously. Cortex gave him a cold stare, which was more like a scowl. The angel and devil nodded.

"What are you doing Cortex?! Uka demanded.

Cortex felt his knees start to buckle but he straightened himself and spoke, "I'm done being your servant."

"What did you just say?!" Uka Uka seethed, as he flew over and loomed above him, eyes blazing with fury and rage. The scientist didn't even flinch, he held his ground.

"You heard me. I said I'm done with being your little servant!" Cortex spat back at him, with the same harsh tone as Uka Uka. "Have you ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, you might be the reason I keep failing!?"

"Oh, so it's my fault you're a failure?"

"Yes, you expect so much from me, and you stress me out most of the time that I can't even hear my own thoughts because of it! Now you can forget about giving me another chance for an Earth shattering plan for you to take over the world! I don't benafit from trying to help you!"

"What are you implying?!"

Cortex turned the dial on his gun to the burn setting, "What I'm implying is I quit working for you! I'm putting my foot down! Hire N. Tropy to take my place, I know that's what you've always wanted to do! So do it, see what I care! It won't effect me, cause I'm out!" He turned and started to walk away. But then, he whipped around briefly, and just to show that he was serious, the scientist squeezed the trigger, turning his ray gun into a handheld flamethrower.

The mask tried to fly out of range but the top part of him got singed in the process. Nina, who had stopped walking and plopped down on a rock was watching the fight from below. She was amazed by her uncles aggression. He was finally standing up for himself. Uka Uka looked back at the man who held his scowl, he growled as he felt the burn settings effects. "I can see you're serious. Fine, you're free, I'll find another member of the N Team to team up with but I won't forget this!"

Uka Uka stormed off back tword their shelter. After he was out of sight, Cortex looked down and saw Nina gazing up at him. She extended her metal hands out and grabbed the lower branch of a tree that resided at the top of the cliff and hoisted herself up to him. "I take it you're not working under him anymore?"

"Nope, I'm free finally. Now I can breathe again, all the stress is gone. Come on, back to our shelter." Cortex put his ray gun back in his pocket and him and Nina, headed on back. He was feeling accomplished as he looked at the angel and devil, both of them smiled.

"Nice going doctor, see I was right." The devil responded.

"Alright, I'll admit, you did good listening to him, but for me, this was a one time thing agreeing with him." The angel gave the devil the old 'I'm watching you look.' "See you next time Cortex and heed what I told you about listening to your heart." Both of them vanished once more.

Cortex knew he would be getting a good night sleep tonight after putting Uka Uka in his place.

This was the begining of a new turning point in his life.

But a plan to beat Crash was next...


	6. Hassle In The Castle

Nina and Cortex headed back tword the shelter, which wasn't anything real fancy: a simple two story castlelike design, made from rocks scattered around N Sanity Beach, along with branches, and thick leaves from the Wumpa Fruit trees. The construction had taken some time, but luckily it didn't rain while they were assembling it.

Wasn't much but it was enough for the N Team to call home. It was excessively better than a puny little lean to for survival, as it kept the harsh elements from the island outside, and each member had their own room. There was plenty of Wumpa Fruit around the island, so they wouldn't go hungry. Good enough for both them and the Bandicoots since it was at least a hundred yards from their house.

"I'm proud of you Uncle Neo. You finally stood up for yourself."

"Why thank you Nina, if it wasn't for you, I would still be scared out of my wits by Uka Uka." Cortex breathed in a huge sigh of releif. "And I'm sure he'll get over this."

"No problem, I'm here to help you out. Both physically and mentally." Nina patted him on the back. A thought donned on the scientist right as his neice said that. When they stopped in front of the door he asked, "You know Nina, why don't you stay with me and the team instead of going back to the academy? I need you. No one else would give me a talk like you did about taking a stand, or even take care of my injuries. If it were N Tropy or anyone else, they probably would have let me suffer." "Don't worry, I'll never leave you. That's a promise." She hugged him.

"Great, cause we've got an extra room here, right upstairs and conveniently right next to mine." Cortex allowed her to go first. Nina smiled brightly and opened the front door.

The pair stepped inside, to find Tropy, Brio, and N Gin. They had been awaiting Cortex's arrival. All three of them beared scorch marks that decorated their lab coats and blackened soot that covered their faces. "Yeesh, what happened to you guys?" Cortex asked, flinching as he looked at them. "Three words doctor, Spyro. The. Dragon." N. Brio replied, before he realized something. "And why are you asking what happened? You were there."

"Yeah, you commented on how that treasure was 'stolen property'." N Gin remembered.

"It was stolen property; you followed us to Twinsanity Island and the twins stronghold, don't know how, but you did." Cortex only assumed that the three of them used the Psychetron as well. "I said I didn't care about the treasure being stolen...you didn't happen to get any by chance, did you?" Cortex asked. The trio sadly shook their heads no. "Wow, so Spyro's very protective of those little gems and coins isn't he? Again, not that I care."

Fighting on the side of good alongside Crash had taken its toll on the scientist and made him start thinking differently about things.

"Yeah, he most certainly is, a gem loving dragon. So aside from all that, what happened to you?" Brio asked, noting the red stain on Cortex's coat.

"Papu Papu and the natives. One of them stabbed me in the side. Jabbed their spear into the bush where me and Crash were hiding. Nina fixed me up though." Cortex rubbed it gently. "Still hurts, I'm gonna go change my coat and head for bed. It's been a long day, and plus I'm exhausted. So I know I'll sleep good tonight." As he started up the stairs to his room, with Nina trailing behind, he remembered something. He stopped in his tracks and turned back to his minions, "Oh and N Tropy..."

The time traveler cut him off, "Already aware doctor, can't believe you told Uka Uka you quit. I've been waiting to replace you for the longest time, so basically you did me and yourself a favor. You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say 'I quit'. I knew this day would come! And now it's finally here!" He practically jumped up and down with joy.

"You quit working for Uka Uka and hired N Tropy to take your place? Are you feeling alright Cortex? What about beating Crash? I thought he was your number one priority?" N Brio wondered, cradling a beaker of green potion in his grasp, while shoving about a thousand questions in his face at once.

Before Cortex had a chance to say anything, Uka Uka stormed into the room. "Please, he'll never be able to beat him. Personally, I'm glad Cortex quit, I've been ready to fire him for quite some time now. He said he was done being my little puppet, and I am not regretting his decision one bit." The mask then remembered scientists insult. "Oh and he also said that he was the smartest one of all of us around here next to N Tropy."

"Well, we all know that's a lie." N Gin said. "N Tropy is the smartest."

"Thanks a lot N Gin." Cortex said sarcastically, now irritated by that remark.

"You're welcome." Cortex faceplamed at that, clearly the half cyborg scientist had a lot more brain damage from that missile than he was aware of.

Nina spoke up, "Uka Uka also said that Brio and Tropy have more brain power together than what my uncle has in his entire head. Which isn't at all true."

"Thank you! Finally someone gets it!" Cortex exclaimed.

"Cortex, do you have a new plan to beat Crash?" Brio asked, moving away from that topic.

Cortex wasn't sure anymore, one part of him was still slightly irritated at his nemesis after what happened in Totem Hokum. Another part was still happy about being comforted by him.

The angel was right, he was conflited. "I don't think so, but I am still slightly annoyed at him. I mean, how can he be so good at fighting and beating me, but at the same time he seems like he hits his head against rocks all day? The therapy sessions that Nina and Coco suggested, are kinda helping."

"You're taking therapy with Crash?" N Gin asked as he fiddled with his fingers.

"Yep we are. Of course, when it comes to me and Crash, I don't know weather to befriend him or kill him sometimes." Cortex knew which opinion he wanted to give, but didn't want his minions to think he had gone soft after what he went through with the bandicoot earlier in the day.

He pulled a photo out of his pocket. The group before him raised their eyebrows curiously.

"What's that?" Tropy asked in an almost demanding tone. Cortex flinched when he heard the tone of his voice. He turned his back on the group and smiled at the picture.

The photo was of Crash. The man had taken it years ago, (before they partnered up) with a long distance lens camera. He was hiding up a tree outside the Bandicoots house watching Crash and Coco play with Polar and Pura.

He turned around, and opened his mouth to explain. But what came out...

Was a lie. He shouldn't have taken the photo out, everyone would figure out soon enough that Cortex was lying.

"I carry a photo of my nemesis, to always fill me with vengeance." Cortex couldn't believe he was fibbing, but he only prayed and hoped his minions would buy the story. Just looking at the 8 x 10 glossy pic made him feel funny. His stomach twisted itself into knots.

N Brio and N Gin looked at each other and then to Cortex. They both gave a 'really?' look back to him. "Yeah, that makes sense." Brio sensed something different, but wasn't about to say it.

Cortex then gave the rest of the explination. "I take it to the bathroom and sleep with it on the other pillow next to my face."

Everyone held up a hand, signaling him to stop, "Ok, this is getting weird. Carry on, we don't wanna know anymore." Brio shuddered and waved him off, but N Tropy on the other hand gave a look of suspision as Cortex headed up the stairs to his room while Nina skipped along behind him. She was headed for bed as well. The girl stopped at a door in the middle of the hall. Nina opened it and walked inside. Cortex had suggested they build an extra room just for her in case she needed a break from sleeping at the Academy. She was greatful of how much Neo cared for her.

Nina knew she would also be getting a good night sleep after helping her uncle out.

Dr. Cortex then transitioned from a leisurely stroll, into a scurry down the hall like a mouse running from a cat, as he gazed over his shoulder and looked down at the group. Feeling as if their gazes were piercing right through him, the scientist sprinted into his room and slammed the door behind him.

The faint click of a lock was soon heard. Uka Uka raised an eyebrow before looking at Tropy who flashed him the same look, "I think he's hiding something. And I think he may have also lied when he said, and I quote, ' _I carry a picture of my nemesis to always fill me with vengeance.'_

"I agree, what he said he does with it, and besides, did you see how he started to walk off? First slow, then he sprinted. Why the quick change in pace?" The manipulator of time was not that gullible. Him and Uka Uka both weren't.

"He's definitely not telling us something. But what?" The mask could only imagine...suddenly he realized that he shouldn't start drumming up some ridiculous fantasies. He would eventually get to the bottom of this in time, "Team, I say tomorrow we do a little investigating."

The three of them looked at each other then back to the witch doctor, their faces told everything. "Right, we'll see what we can uncover." They replied in unison.

 _'Yes, we're going to know more.'_ Brio clapped his hands together as the trio of scientists then departed tword their rooms for bed. Heading upstairs, they split off in different directions. They had work to do in the morning.

After hearing three doors close, Dr. Cortex turned the lock back and opened his door. He looked to the left and then to the right. Nobody is sight, nobody lurking about outside. Reeling back in, he shut the door once more. He slumped against it and sank down onto the floor.

He gazed at the photo again. Running his fingers over it, he sighed. "Crash. After everything we've been though, why I can't bring myself to destroy you? I'm supposed to hate you, but I just can't. Is it because of our history? I don't want to I have to act like I hate you, but if everyone else found out...I..." He put a hand over his mouth, hoping no one heard him. Running over, he threw himself on his bed.

Pulling out his ray gun, Cortex looked at the Love Setting. As he took a long look at the happy face, he suddenly remembered the real reason for installing it. It wasn't because he was trying to get a girlfriend, no...

It was because of Crash.


	7. Your Worst Nightmare

Crash and Aku Aku casually strolled through the tunnel back tword the house. They weren't in a rush like Coco was. "So, Crash how did therapy go with Cortex?" The mask wondered. Crash clicked his teeth and gave a thumbs up. "So it went well, alright. Come on, let's go and comfort Coco, I know she's skeptical about Cortex."

Coco breathed in a sigh of releif as she ran over to the house, but her calm demeanor didn't last long.

Crunch was outside lifting weights, while at the same time, he had eyes and ears all around the perimeter, nothing evil was going to get passed his trained eye. He stopped patrolling and set the barbells down when he spotted his two siblings and Aku Aku coming into view, "Hey Coco, little bro, what's up?"

The female bandicoot growled in frustration. She pictured Cortex standing in front of her; just seeing his face was enough to get her worked up. Coco imagined wrapping her hands around his throat and strangling him, "I am going to kill him! He is so dead when I get my hands on him again! I knew I should have hit him when I had the chance, but you told me to calm down, you said violence never solves anything!"

"Coco, please!" Aku Aku begged, his eyes were lined with a mixture of both worry and concern for the young girl. "What would hitting him accomplish?"

 _'What would that accomplish? Oh I don't know, everything?'_ She thought.

"What's wrong sis, who are you wanting to hit?" Crunch asked, reaching out a hand to her. Coco hissed in response. "Ok, I'll wait till you're calm." He frowned and pulled his arm back, before backing away slowly and joining Crash.

Crash, after scratching his chin for a brief moment, scurried over to the front door and plucked up a bright pink flower. He dashed back and held it out to the younger bandicoot. She took a look at it and gazed up at her brother.

Finally she accepted it. Coco couldn't say no to her first older brother about anything. She took it and placed it in her hair, then received a hug from him after. "Thank you Crash." After taking a deep breath and calming herself of her tirade, she faced Crunch and explained what had happened to them. "Me and Crash were over at Cortex's Iceberg Lab."

"Oh boy, what's that little weasel of a scientist done now? More mind control? More minions?" Crunch asked, picking up a tree branch and snapping it in two with his one metal hand, like it was nothing more than a flimsy little twig. He could only assume that is was something evil. It was Cortex after all. Just the mention of his name made the bandicoots blood boil.

"Cortex tried to use his machine, the Psychetron, to do away with Crash. But of course, like all of his plans, it failed. And the worst part of that is he instead got zapped and teleported right into our brothers brain."

Crunch couldn't believe what he had just heard. Had his ears deceived him? "What?! That's horrible!" When it came to protecting his siblings, Crunch took the older brother role very seriously. Seeing anything bad happen to Crash or Coco was his worst nightmare. He lifted up Crash and started shaking him around like a lifeless rag doll, "Little Crashy, are you alright?! Don't worry, we'll get him out of your head!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Crunch, it's alright, me and Nina got him out." Coco calmly explained. "Cortex left a recorded explanation about throwing his machine into reverse. So, we followed his instructions and surprise surprise, something that he said actually worked. And me and Nina sent him and Crash to start therapy sessions to work out their issues."

"They do have a lot of issues. Good call." He gave a thumbs up and sat his sibling down, Crash's eyes were spinning like tops after being put back on the ground, and his ears were ringing from the eardrum shattering loud voice. "And is it working?"

"Crash seems to think so, don't you Crash?" He nodded and gave a thumbs up, before plopping down on the ground and falling backward. "Yup, not sure about Cortex though. But, in all fairness, I could care less about him. I just want to kill him sometimes, but I know I could never bring myself do that." Coco tried to control her anger; She took a deep breath. In and out, in and out...Pretty soon she realized that this method wasn't going to work, rage still lurked underneath the fur. "Crunch, can I use that punching bag that you've got out back?"

"Sure, anytime you want to hit something, feel free to hit that." He encouraged. "And I know how you feel. Have at it." Coco nodded, she knew she would feel better after releasing some rage. Balling her hands into fists, she stomped angrily to the backside of the house. After watching the younger bandicoot storm off, Crunch looked at Aku Aku and tilted his head. "Is she gonna be alright?"

"I think she'll be fine, she's got you, me and Crash to help her. I think she'll be much better after a good nights sleep tonight." Crunch suppressed a long sigh before saying, "I hope you're right." Aku Aku and Crash then headed inside the house, leaving Crunch to get back to his weight lifting. "I hope you're right."

* * *

Cortex sighed as he rolled over in bed, he looked up at the stone ceiling and held out the photo. Crash's happy face (with eyes crossed and his tounge stuck out) gazed back at him.

 _'How can you be so happy all the time?'_ Cortex then remembered when they first arrived in the 10th dimension and Twinsanity Island.

 _"Your fur is so soft, and warm."_ Cortex had no clue it was Crash's 10th dimensional counterpart he was hugging. It wasn't until something felt off that both amazed and utterly terrified him. The bandicoot felt taller, and his fur felt matted. He looked up before recoiling backward and screaming in fright.

Evil Crash, a wicked twisted bandicoot with a thirst for blood and meat. He growled at Cortex before leaping over him and snatching up Nina.

When Cortex and Good Crash made an effort to rescue Nina from the clutches of Evil Crash, he chased after Cortex and tried to tear him to shreds. Trying to be brave back then had failed horribly. Luckily the feral marsupial got distracted by a bird, leaving the man a window of opportunity to hightail it out of there.

The scientist shuddered as he remembered that. The was an event Dr. Cortex would rather forget, but as much as his mind tried to block it out, he knew it would forever lurk in the back of his brain, "Your evil counterpart almost killed me, but from what I've seen throughout our journey together, you would never do anything to hurt me. You really do care about me."

Cortex's eyes trailed downward and gazed over the blood stain on his clothes. That would be a permanent reminder of what had happened today.

Setting the photo and his weapon down for a moment, he waltzed over to his closet and pulled out a fresh white lab coat. Throwing it on, he felt much better, of course the stab injury would take more time to heal properly. He crumpled up the ruined article of clothing and tossed it in the trash.

"It's not your fault that I got hurt in Totem Hokum today, it was all me. I wasn't watching where I was stepping. Dr. Jacobson was right. Crash, if you really were a complete idiot, I would have beaten you ten years ago. You are definitely a lot smarter than you look.." Cortex, again couldn't beleive what he was saying. "But I did enjoy that hug you gave me."

Closing the closet, he worked his way back, flopped backward into bed, and pulled the covers up over him. He put his ray gun on his nightstand and the photo on the pillow next to him, just as something else hit him. "Crash I know I said I wanted you evil, but I don't, the bandicoot from Twinsanity Island almost murdered me, and while you may not be the brightest, you're actually really sweet." Cortex inhaled then exhaled a long sigh, before reality smacked him right in the face. "Darn that therapist was right. Oh, he is good."

Dr. Jacobson had gotten into his head and wasn't about to leave.

Turning out the bedside table lamp, he sighed happily as he closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. Listening to the waves crash against the rocks outside seemed to help as he drifted off into what Cortex hoped would be a peaceful slumber.

* * *

_Cortex's eyes snapped open, he gasped as he picked himself up and looked around frantically. He was on a beach. The atmosphere of this place was dark and gloomy, almost depresssing: the dark purple sky above him rumbled with thunder as lightening cracked the sky. Even the water was a deep purple. The trees bare and their branches curved and spiked like talons._

_But what made him realize exactly where he was, was the faces of the Evil Twins carved into the stone cliffs of this unforgettable nightmarish dimension._

_"Oh my gosh, this is Twinsanity Island. Why am I back here?" Cortex asked himself. He started to feel uneasy as he hugged himself, trying to keep warm. "Crash?" Only the raging storm and the icy wind answered him. As he slowly pressed forward, robotic ant like creatures with blue laser swords jumped out from behind the rocks. "You're the soilders of Victor and Moritz aren't you?"_

_"Yes, and we've been instructed by the Evil Twins to capture you." One of the ants aimed his sword right at Cortex's throat and charged forward, causing him to stagger backward, slamming up against a rock. His bones cracked and broke under the pressure, and the injury from Totem Hokum opened up again, blood gushed out and dripped down the front of him, coating and staining the front of his clothes a deep scarlet._

_As the ants raised their weapons, Cortex held up his hands, "Please, I don't wanna die! But I can't undo what I did to the twins to make them like they are! I can't reverse it!"_

_"Oh, we're not gonna kill you, we were only sent by Victor and Moritz to patrol this dimension and find you. The twins had a hunch that you would return here, so naturally, those two are going to be the ones to end your life."_

_The doctor was stunned that they still wanted their revenge. "I'll never forgive myself for what happened when I was eighg. That I was the cause of what became of them."_

_The leader ant gestured his soilders closer so they could capture the scientist. Cortex gulped, reaching into his pocket for his ray gun. He hoped he could stun them for just long enough for him to make his escape. But his eyes widened in shock and he started trembling as he realized nothing was there._

_'Of course.' Fear clouded his mind and anxiety swelled up inside him. The man dashed out from behind the rock and tried to run, but Cortex didn't manage to make it two steps before his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground under the weight of his injury._

_The ants smirked as they flew up above him and pulled out a rope. One soilder tied it into a lasso and threw it, as Cortex attempted to pick himself back up. Catching one of Cortex's ankles, he pulled the scientist down and yanked him backward. Reeling him in like a fish on a hook._

_"Crash! Where are you?! Crash!" Again no one answered...no one came. He was stuck, forcefully being dragged to the Evil Twins._

_Victor and Moritz flew tword their minions, grinning as they saw their old owner who had ruined their lives. He was fighting the ants all the way. "We knew you'd come back pops, we just knew it." Moritz replied. "Like we said, you ruined our lives. Now allow us to return the favor." Victor snapped a finger and Evil Crash appeared. Emerald eyes almost immediately locked onto Cortex. "Crash, lunch time." The dark red bandicoot growled and licked his lips._

_"Do you have no sense of pity for what you're about to do?! You were my pets! I cared for you! And I'm sorry for what I did! There are some things that even I can't undo!" Dr. Cortex was sobbing and screaming as he said that._

_The twins pondered that for a moment. Before reaching a conclusion. They broke the answer into two parts._

_"No pity at all, sorry. Plus you didn't even recognize us when we first arrived on N Sanity Island." Moritz reminded._

_"And we want to forget what happened to us when we entered this place years ago. It was all your fault!" Is what came from Victor's mouth._

_Using telekinesis, they levitated Cortex up into the air and dangled him mere inches above Evil Crash. This was the end for poor Cortex: no ray gun, no good Crash to come and save him, no way out. The drooling bandicoot waved a goodbye to the scientist and opened his mouth, ready for his meal. "Goodbye." Victor and Moritz let their hands drop to their sides, stopping the telepathic ability and letting their owner fall down;_

_Right into the jaws of death, with Cortex screaming all the way..._


	8. We're Here For You

_As he fell straight down, Cortex closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate (and his bitter end). He prayed that it would be fast. If Cortex had to go, he wanted it to be quick and painless..._

_But his end never came, instead he felt something furry with two arms catch him and wrap around him. Cortex looked up, tears in his eyes, but soon, they vanished when he saw the face of Crash. Crash had lept up and caught his creator in mid air._

_The twins snapped their fingers in frustration, while Evil Crash simply huffed and walked away, hoping to catch a bird or something. There went his meal._

_Cortex took a deep breath, he had never been more releived to see Crash in his entire life, "And where have you been?" He could only imagine. The bandicoot simply replied with a shrug. He had taken a stroll around the island until he heard the mans screams, then he came running. Crash was the hero after all, and even though it was his enemy, he still had to save Cortex if he got himself into trouble. Cortex instantly threw his arms around Crash, welcoming him in a hug. The tears returning, welling up in his eyes. The scientist looked up at him and trembled in his warm embrace, he didn't want to be let go. He tightened his grip on him, "The twins want their revenge and I thought I lost you." Crash felt his fur getting wet from his creator sobbing on his shoulder, he didn't want anything bad to become of Cortex either. Crash ran his hands up and down his back to calm him down._

_Victor and Moritz almost felt the slightest pang of sympathy for Crash and Cortex..._

_Almost, if they hadn't decided to break up their little pity party. Both birds raised their hands, activating the telekinetic power once more, and pulling the duo apart. Moritz grabbed Cortex, while Victor took Crash. An idea formed in his brain as he did. Smirking, he whistled for Evil Crash. The malevolent marsupial sprinted over in a hurry. Sitting down on the ground and panting like a dog, he licked his lips as Victor lifted Crash up above him, and slowly lowered him down._

_Pausing ever so slightly. Wanting to savor this moment. "On second thought doctor, instead of ending your life, we'll end Crash's instead. Whaddya say about that hm?" He suggested._

_"Yeah, consider this payback." Moritz said._

_Cortex spoke the first thing that came to his mind. Which was, "You two are deranged!" Cortex couldn't beleive this; the Evil Twins, his former childhood pets were not the same sweet little birds from his youth. They were twisted and mad, but he never would have known they would resort to anything like this. The scientist tried to run tword Crash, but Moritz's power held him back. If he had his ray gun, he would hesitate on blasting Victor and Moritz and disintegrating both of them right out of existence. But as he thought about that, Cortex soon came to the realization:_

_He couldn't move his arms, he mustered all the strength he could, but still couldn't budge. Their power was too great. Cortex knew this wouldn't end well...He just didn't know for who._

_The man_ _looked_ _on in horror as Crash attempted to struggle, while feeling Evil Crash's breath on the back of his neck. It sent shivers down his spine._

_Without hesitation or second thought, Victor let his hands drop and Crash fell down, his evil counterpart caught him in his mouth and clamped down on his torso. Razor blade sharp teeth peirced through a good layer of fur, sinking deep into his flesh. Crash cried out in pain, sniveling as his hands moved up to Evil Crash's mouth. Grabbing his jaws, he tried to pry them open, but they were shut tight like a bear trap._

_Grinning wickedly, Evil Crash thrust his head back and forth violently, shaking Crash like a chew toy. Droplets of blood, spattered everywhere. "Crash! NO!" Cortex felt his heart break, splitting in two, right down the middle. The high velocity of the spatter resulted in the warm crimson liquid getting onto Cortex, Victor and Moritz, the twins of which wiped it off their helmets. Cortex on the other hand wasn't fazed one bit. He was just too in shock to notice. His lips quivered slightly, as he watched his creation go limp._

_The twins just laughed at his misery, lowering Cortex back onto the ground. Evil Crash then roughly dropped Good Crash at his feet._

_"Crash?" There was panic in Cortex's voice, as he awaited an answer. The suspense was nervewracking. But Crash didn't respond, the bandicoot laid there like a limp wet noodle. His fur matted and sticky from the excess blood. His eyes closed. "Crash!"_

* * *

Cortex jolted awake, covered in a cold sweat. He shot straight up in bed, screaming, and his hands trembling. Tears streamed down his face, as his breathing came out in rapid rasps. His heart was beating a million miles a minute. Throwing the covers back, the man ran his hands over his midsection, feeling for any broken bones. To his releif, there were none. Just the one old spear injury that was feeling much better though with the pain all gone now. His lab coat was completely clean and blood free.

Cortex breathed in a sigh of releif, "Oh, thank goodness. Nothing more than a bad dream." He looked at the clock on his nightstand.

8:00pm. It was going to be a long night. Shifting to the right, he sat on the edge of the bed, letting his legs dangle.

"I say I want you out of my life, but do I really?" He reached over, picked up the photo of his nemesis again and looked at it.

"I don't think you do." The devil pointed out.

"Totally agree. Wait a minute, why am I agreeing with you again?" Angel Cortex wondered. "I hate myself." He looked at the devil and shook his head. "And I hate you too."

"Goody two shoes."

"Evil kenivel." They growled at each other.

 _'Conflict, within the internal conflict. Yikes.'_ Wincing at that, Cortex looked at the angel as he thought about something that had happened earlier. Opening his mouth he asked, "Hey, quick question for you: were you that little voice in my head telling me something different when I was deciding on weather or not to blast Crash?"

The being of light smiled and nodded his head, "Yes, yes I was. I mean, if Crash was gone, what do you think might have happened in Totem Hokum then? If he wasn't by your side, what would have become of you? You would have gotten killed for sure." He pointed out. "You're welcome."

"Thank you. Truth is I don't think I actually want him out of my life. I told the rest of the team that I didn't have a plan to beat him, and they thought something was wrong with me. They thought I was coming down with something." He growled, which was then followed by a groan. "Oh I'm so confused." Cortex buried his head in his hands, the tears refusing to leave.

"Here's a suggestion, go back and see Dr. Jacobson tomorrow. Talk it out with him, that's what the job of a therapist is; to help you with those and all kinds of problems. Maybe, just maybe, you'll find what you're looking for." The angel looked at him with compassionate eyes.

"But he said he doesn't want me and Crash back until next week." The mini angel fluttered his eyes at the scientist. Cortex, at that point didn't know weather to agree with him or vomit from that look. "Oh, alright. I'll go back tomorrow. But never flutter those eyes at me again!"

"Deal." The creatures of conflict vanished in a poof.

Falling back into bed, Cortex saw scenes of his nightmare flash through his mind as soon as his head hit the pillow. The scientist then gasped in fright as he curled up into a ball, shaking. Cortex couldn't erase those images.

He almost jumped out of his skin when a knock came at his door. Grabbing his weapon, he aimed it at the door. Finger on the trigger, Cortex was ready to shoot, "Who is it?"

"It's me Uncle Neo, can I come in?"

"Yes." Is what Nina heard from the other side. Cortex sat his gun back on the nightstand, and breathed in a sigh of relief, which then transitioned back into fear when he saw the painful images of Crash's death run through his mind. He flopped over and the shaking resumed.

Walking inside, Nina's widened as she saw her uncle lying there trembling, tears flowing down the sides of his face. Cortex looked almost pale, but that was probably from the fear and adrenaline surging throughout his veins. Nina ran over to him, "What's wrong, you look as if you've seen a ghost?"

"Quick question, Victor and Moritz are gone aren't they?"

"Yes, we defeated them. Why do you ask?" Nina wondered tilting her head to the side.

"I-I just had the worst nightmare."

"And apperantly it was about the twins, but I could also hear you screaming Crash's name as well." Having a room right next door, meant that you could hear everything.

Hearing the bandicoots name made his blood run cold. How much had she heard? "Was I screaming his name in my sleep?" Nina nodded yes. "Oh and duh, I forgot you're right next door." After a minute of collecting himself and wiping away the tears, he explained what happened. As he started to explain, choked sobs came out of his mouth. Cortex couldn't describe what had happened right away. "I, I..he..they...ah!"

"Ok, cry first then talk."

"Hold me." Nina wrapped her arms around him and Cortex gave the whole story. "I was back on Twinsanity Island, the twins wanted payback on me, and they were going to let me be eaten alive by Evil Crash. They had no sympathy, and they felt no remorse, even though I said I was sorry."

"Yikes. Sounds rough."

"Yeah, but Crash saved me. Here's the bad news though: Victor and Moritz, their take on getting revenge on me was to have Evil Crash kill his doppleganger. I know I've said I wanted him out of my life, but I really don't. I witnessed Crash being murdered right before my eyes. I know it was only a dream, but it felt so real."

Nina patted him on the back. "Well, it's all over now. You want me to stay with you tonight?" Cortex nodded and rolled back into bed. Nina climbed down in with him and wrapped her arms around his middle, taking caution as to not make his injury any worse.

"I'm also gonna go back and see the therapist tomorrow."

"Really? Sooner than later?" Her uncle nodded, "Alright, yeah you seem scattered lately. I also want you to know that anytime you need comforting, I'm also here for you." The girl reassured.

"Thank you." With his neice by his side, he fell back asleep, knowing he was safe and sound.

* * *

The sun started to fall over the horizon of the island. It would be dark pretty soon, but a certain female bandicoot didn't care at the moment. Coco cracked her knuckles, and shook out her arms as she approached the punching bag hanging from a tree. 'Thanks Crunch, I'm so gonna feel better after this.' She thought.

Reeling her hand back, she exhaled a long, slow breath. The bandicoot pictured Cortex standing right in front of her. Aiming right for his neck, Coco let out an angry scream and thrust her hand forward, landing a hard punch on the bag dead center. She hit it two more times before moving up to hit higher. Taking careful aim, (Somewhere, right between the eyes as she imagined) Coco, hit the same spot again before she jumped up to give a good ol' karate kick. The girl transitioned between punches and kicks.

Crunch had set his weights down for the evening, and was now leaning up against the door. Crash and Aku Aku had came back out after hearing Coco's raging scream. The trio was now watching her as she unleased the anger that was trapped inside her.

The young girl was oblivious to their presecne.

All three looked at each other. "At least she didn't hit Cortex when we were on the boat earlier. I managed to talk her out of doing that." Aku Aku informed. "And I'm pretty sure she wanted to slug him right in the face.

Crunch could fully understand that, "Ah, nice going. Yeah, her hatred against him, is quite something and I'm 99% sure she wants to kill Cortex sometimes. Sorry, all the time, make that 100%, but I also think that's a little extreme. I think she would be going a little too far if she did that. And that's coming from me. Personaly, if I was Coco I, would have hit him once and that would have been enough."

"Coco said she wouldn't hit him on the boat with me, Crash and everyone else there, but if it was just her and Cortex, then that would've been bad."

"She really doesn't like him. And to be fair, he did dress up as her, so it's understandable why she would want to do that." Crunch seemed to remember looking out the window of their house to see Cortex in a blonde wig earlier in the day. "And fyi, he can not pull off that cringeworthy look." He shuddered as that image flashed in his brain. "I hope I never see him dressed like that ever again. Cause that was...oh boy!" It would take time for him to forget he ever saw that. "Do you think we should get her inside so she can relax with a good nights sleep?"

Aku Aku couldn't agree more, "You're right, she can't stay out here all night."

"Ahh!" Coco landed one more hard punch and roundhouse kick on the bag before wiping the sweat off her face. Turning around, she saw the trio of friends, their eyes wide. "Ok, I think I got all my anger out."

"Alright, I think it's time for bed, you've had a long day. Whaddya say?" Crunch suggested. "You can't stay out here all night you know."

Coco looked at him, before turning her eyes on Crash who flattened his ears and gave his sister the puppy dog eyes look. Coco's angry expression lightened up, she couldn't be mad at the people who cared so much about her. Flipping her hair back, she smiled and walked tword them. "Alright after that tirade of mine, I feel much better. I'll sleep good tonight." Coco gazed at her brother. "Alright Crash, you can stop, I'm good now." Crash's toothy smile returned.

Aku Aku and the bandicoots helped Coco tword the door and headed inside for the night.

Even though Coco had regained her calm nature, one thought was still running through her brain:

Revenge.

_'Mark my words Cortex, I will have my revenge on you for what you did. Count on it.'_


	9. All In Agreement

Coco was led inside by her siblings and Aku Aku. Crunch on one side of her and Crash on the other. "Come on, let's get you to bed." Crunch said, closing the front door behind them. The two bandicoots helped their sister to her room, ready to tuck her in for the night.

She didn't fight or struggle against them, for Coco knew that that would be wrong. The group passed by Baby T, Pura, and Polar who all beared a worried look: their eyes wide as they slightly trembled and whimpered. Crunch had fed them and gave them all water before he went out to check on Coco, but they were still uneasy as they had heard her anger coming from outside earlier. "Don't worry, she's fine, just a little on edge." He assured as he gave Polar a pat on the back as he walked by, while Crash rubbed Baby T's head. The female bandicoot gazed upon the family pets and gave a reassuring smile to her tiger companion, "It's alright Pura. I'm fine. I'll be better in the morning." Pura then jumped up and nuzzled against her, before going back and curling up next to Polar.

All three watched as Crash and Crunch helped Coco down the hall to her bed before they drifted off to sleep. Looking up at her brothers, Coco gave a smile before rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment, "Look Crunch, I'm sorry for hissing at you earlier. It's just that I don't trust Cortex one bit. He's been after Crash for quite a while and don't forget, _you_ worked under him as well, you served as his ultimate superweapon to destroy Crash."

"Don't remind me, he used mind control on me. I'm still greatful that you, Crash and Aku Aku freed me and got me out from under Cortex and Uka Uka's control. Because of you guys, I know that being good is the right path in life."

"It's the least we could do. Alright, come on children, we'll all feel better in the morning after we get a good nights sleep tonight." As they entered Coco's room, Aku Aku thought of an idea to benafit them all. "Coco, I just thought of a brilliant idea."

The youngest of the bandicoot siblings rolled her eyes and scoffed, what idea could the witch doctor mask possibly have that would benafit this family? Coco could only imagine, "Yeah, what have you got? Does it involve murdering Cortex in his sleep?" Crunch's jaw practically dropped to the floor, as Crash facepalmed at that unessacry comment. Not even his creator deserved that. Him and Cortex had a history when the bandicoot was first created years ago. Crash knew that he could never bring himself to hurt the scientist. Crash also knew that even thought Cortex said he hated him, he knew that the man felt the same about him.

Cortex would realize it eventually.

"Woah, hold it Coco, we're not going that far." Crunch explained. Coco stomped her foot on the ground and snapped her finger.

Aku Aku hated to rain on her parade, but he did so anyway, "Sadly Coco, my idea does not involve murdering him, I'm one for non violence. No, I was thinking, more along the lines of maybe you should join Crash and Cortex in their next session with Dr. Jacobson. Whaddya say, cause it seems that you and Cortex have some issues that need to be addressed as well?"

"Really? Is this because he tricked Crash into gathering Power Crystals to power his Super Cortex Vortex? Or when I gave him a what for for when he stunned me and led Crash away from the house to finish him off? I thought Cortex had kidnapped him, and you know how I feel about him." Coco's hands started to curl into fists.

Crash eyes went crossed and he stuck out his tounge. The witch doctor looked at Crash, then back to Coco. "I completely understand your frustration, I'm just implying that...well you did say that Crash and Cortex needed to sort out their issues as soon as possible, that's why you sent them to Dr. Jacobson. So maybe you should go with them next time so that the therapist can help you and Cortex as well, since you two have quite a bitter rivalry as well." Aku Aku suggested. "Hey, I'll even come along with you. Whaddya say?"

"Well, I did say that, didn't I? And that is the job of a therapist. Oh, you're right. Next time when those two go, you and I will tag along. And if I go, I'll be able to keep a close eye on Cortex to make sure he doesn't cross the line with me. I just now thought of that. You're a genius. "

"Good point. I think we would all feel better if you did that Coco. Nice Aku Aku, you're good when it comes to persuading people." Crunch observed.

The mask smiled. "It's my job, so it's settled, next week: group therapy." The group then split up, leaving Coco to get to sleep, before they departed to their rooms for bed. "Tomorrow will definitly be better."

* * *

The early morning sun rose over the horizon and peeked in through a small opening in the curtains, signaling a brand new day. What started out as a restless night, ended up being quite peaceful.

Nina slowly opened her eyes and looked up. Her uncle was fast asleep with his arms wrapped around the young girl. She hadn't heard him scream in fright once since she decided to stay with him. The more Nina thought about it, the more she realized that she didn't want to set foot back into the Academy of Evil, she never wanted to become deranged and obsessed like her uncle.

Cortex soon opened his eyes when he felt his neice nuzzle against him. This was warm, this was nice, the man almost didn't want to get up. But he had to. He patted the back of her head. "Good morning."

"Morning, I didn't hear you screaming once since I decided to stay with you. I take it you got a good sleep?" Nina asked, hoping that he would say yes. That was the very answer she got.

"Yes, but that one image of Crash from my terror induced nightmare is gonna haunt probably me for the rest of my life now." The scientist admitted, shuddering. Nina climbed out of bed and stretched as she let out a big yawn. She extended her hand out to help her uncle up. He grasped it in his own and was pulled up off the mattress, throwing the covers back soon after, "Thank you, not just for helping me up, but comforting and caring about me as well. I don't think I would have made it through the whole night if you hadn't come in to check on me."

"You're welcome. It's the least I could do for you. And you know what they say, you do for family." Nina smiled and hugged him. "How's your spear injury doing?" She wondered.

"It's feeling much better, the pain's all gone."

"Good to know. Come on, let's go get breakfast." She opened the door and gestured Cortex to go first. He started to, but then backtracked over to his nightstand and snatched up his weapon and the photo. He gave a sigh as he looked at Crash's happy (and goofy) face.

If Cortex hated him so much, why was he carrying Crash's photo with him and asking the bandicoots help when they first met the twins days ago? Did he have a tiny sliver of trust in Crash? Did he feel something other than hatred for his nemesis?

Surely Dr. Jacobson would help him with that today. Placing both items into the pocket of his lab coat, he headed out, letting his neice close the door behind them. An idea formed in the girls brain as she skipped behind him. Nina suddenly paused in the middle of the hall when she got an idea that involved her keeping an eye on him.

She ran up behind her uncle and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes Nina, something on your mind?" Cortex asked turning around to face her. The girl looked down and shuffled her feet before speaking.

"I was just wondering, since your last visit to Totem Hokum went kinda bad, would you like me to accompany you this time around?" She asked, hoping her uncle would agree and say yes.

Yes was the very response Nina got. He smiled and ruffled her hair, "I was wondering when you would ask that. Of course you should come. I don't want a repeat of yesterday."

"Relax, I won't let you down. Count on it." Nina was glad that she wasn't as evil as her uncle.

* * *

Nina and Neo headed downstairs to the main corridor to find Tropy, Brio, and N Gin waiting patiently for Dr. Cortex. The trio was clustered together, hands clasped behind their backs.

To top it all off, an unusually happy grin was plastered to their faces, but underneath, there lurked mischief and a thirst for anwsers, that they would get into soon enough. The N Team had been thinking last night about how to get Cortex out of the castle so they could do their investigating, until N Gin had finally drummed up the perfect plan.

"Good morning master." He greeted taking a step forward. "Care for breakfast?" Brio held out a silver platter and lifted up the lid, revealing a plate of pancakes. It was a tall stack that two people could easily share between them with Wumpa Fruit on the side. Dr. Cortex and Nina both looked at it wide eyed as N Gin led them to the dining room table.

Nina sat down and grasped a fork in her metal hands, licking her lips as she did so. The cyborg pulled out the chair for his master and once Cortex got situated, he pushed it forward, giving him easier access to the food that Brio carefully placed in front of him. Taking a knife and fork in hand, the chemist split the one tall stack into two shorter ones, dividing them equally between the two Cortex's.

"What's all this?" Cortex wondered as N Tropy held out a bottle of syurp and poured it over the warm, fluffy breakfast item. He was amazed that his minions had prepared all this for him.

Uka Uka winked at the team. This was all part of the plan...

Cortex bit into his food, amazed by how good it was that he didn't even notice the masks little gesture, "It's breakfast, made by us, for you. What do you think?" It took a minute to get an actual anwser. The food was so good that neither of the two could complian about it. Nina was smiling as she savored every bite.

"Delicious, I didn't know you guys were good cooks." Cortex admitted. "So...what's the occasion?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. He was completely clueless to the teams ambition to get him out of here. Sooner rather than later.

"No occasion sir, just felt like it." Tropy said, even though he was clearly lying. "We also have a little something for you." The three scientists stepped aside, to reveal Cortex's hoverboard, it gleamed as the sun hit it. It looked as if it were brand new. N Tropy enlightened him, "N Gin here went back down into the cavern to retrieve it after we had been burned by Spyro."

"Really and before me and Nina got back?"

"Yes. And strangely, your board was the only thing down there, when I went back there after our run in with that dragon, I discovered that my robotic creation was nowhere to be found. Mechabandicoots gone sir, don't know where, don't know how, but he's gone."

Cortex knew exactly what had happened, "Yeah N Gin your creation was retrieved by Crash so that me, him and Nina could defeat the Evil Twins." He explained.

"So, that's what happened?" N Gin slapped himself right on the side of his head. "That brainless furball stole my creation!" He was in shock that Crash even knew how to pilot it, but the part cyborg scientist decided he wasn't going to let it get to him. "Ah, it's fine, I can always rebuild it." He gave a confident smile.

"Alright, thank you for your thoughts N Gin. So now, going back to your hoverboard Cortex, me and the team decided to take the time before you arrived back here, and spruce it up a bit for you: new coat of paint, fresh new N sticker, we buffed out the scratches and dents, repaired the rockets, and we polished it twice. The whole, 'nine yards' as they say. You like?" Asked N Tropy. "We did this at the crack of dawn, but it seems like we pulled an all nighter."

Cortex was in awe, his hoverboard was exactly what he needed to get through Totem Hokum today and not have to duck into a shrub for safety. He could just float above the natives without worry. On the other hand, the scientist didn't have to worry about Nina, she had metal grappling hands that she could use to easily swing from tree to tree. "Why thank you guys. I'll give it a test run today after breakfast. I need to step out of here and clear my head. My brain has been how should I put this, 'cluttered' you know?"

The rest of the N Team understood completely. Uka Uka floated over, "Oh, we know. We got that impression when you said you didn't know if you had a plan to beat Crash or not."

"Yeah, I think not, I still can't understand how he keeps beating me. Speaking of beating, Coco wants to give me a good punch right in the face." Cortex explained as he plowed through the rest of his meal and pushed the plate back.

"Oh boy, Cortex what on Earth did you do?" Brio wondered.

"Dressed up as her to trick Crash into following me so I could finish him off." Cortex's right hand man didn't even begin to imagine that thought before he shuddered in horror.

Cortex wiped the food from his face and scooted his chair back, "Ok, I'm outta here. Come on Nina, back to Totem Hokum." Cortex collected his hoverboard and along with his neice, they headed out the door.

Uka Uka smirked as he watched them hop on and fly away. "Yes he's finally gone."

"Last one to his room is a rotten Wumpa!" Brio taunted as he sprinted up the stairs, getting a head start.

"Hey, that's not fair!" (Uka Uka)

"Wait for us!" (N Gin)

"We're all in this together you know?!" (N Tropy)

The rest of the team and Uka Uka scurried along behind him. How dare Brio taunt his fellow colleagues like that. The suspense of what awaited them in Cortex's room was unbearable, who knows what secrets lied within...


	10. Mission Impossible: Truth Be Told Part 1

The group and Uka Uka ran upstairs, but Brio made it to the door first. "Boom, I win!" He gave a little victory dance.

"No fair, you got a head start, not to mention you taunted us beforehand!" N Gin wined, crossing his arms like a pouty child.

Brio just flashed him a smirk, "You know what they say: 'all's fair in love and war'." The chemist stated.

N Tropy shook his head at his fellow minions, as he opened the door to Cortex's room, "You two are pathetic, this wasn't a race you know." Uka Uka understood that completely.

"Totally agree, you guys can be so childish at times. So glad I don't have to work with either of you two. Alright focus team, let's just get this over with before Cortex gets back." The evil mask ordered, trying to refocus everyone back on topic. N Tropy, similar to Uka Uka was not one to tolerate silliness or games, he was a guy who wanted a straight answer and wanted to be completely focused on one topic at a time.

N Gin shook his head around before he snapped his finger in an "I've got an idea" moment. "Hey guys, I just thought of something. Wait here a minute." The cyborg dashed off back downstairs to a storage closet and opened the door. He started chucking various objects (ranging from plastic, metal, wood, and other multiple materials) everywhere. They all hit the cold stone floor with a loud clatter, even some glass things were shattered into a million pieces, "Where are they, they've got to be here somewhere?" N Gin knew exactly what he was looking for.

"I think he's gone crazier than usual." Uka Uka said. "And I can make him sweep up the broken glass. He needs to try a different hobby rather than just mechs all the time."

"Agreed." Brio and Tropy said in unison. "Jinx!" The mask rolled his eyes, now he had to deal with the likes of these two and their games? A sudden outburst from down below caught everyones attention.

"Ah ha! Here they are!" The rest of them could only wonder what he had found. Running back upstairs, N Gin held out his hands as he produced two little golden toilet shaped robots with spider like legs, and a camera sticking up out of them. There was a red N painted on the side. "Just so we can have a warning and get out of here in time, before the master gets back."

"Gah! N Gin, what in all of N Sanity Island are those hideous looking devices?!" Tropy asked, slightly flinching a bit. Brio jumped back in horror, as the cyborg set one down on the ground. The robot scurried about all over the floor and in between their legs. The camera moved all about, looking all around the room. Uka Uka raised an eyebrow, clearly curious about these little machines.

The cyborg scientist gave a hearty laugh and explained, "These here are Dr. Cortex's personal spybots. I saw the master throw these into the storage closet months ago. I've done some rewiring and was able to link the two together and establish a wireless signal to transmit between them. So when one sees something suspicious or realizes that someone or something is coming, an alarm will sound on the other. I've wired the signal into both of them, so it doesn't matter which one we've got. It all works in a similar fashion." N Gin stated.

Uka Uka was amazed to see that N Gin wasn't the plain old lunatic that Dr. Cortex claimed he was. "Wow, I guess Cortex was all wrong about you N Gin, he thought you were just a maniac. But you're obviously smarter than you look."

"Why thank you Uka Uka, I try." He gave a small bow. "Alright, I'm gonna go set one next to the front door." N Gin, dashed back downstairs and set up the camera just so.

After placing one right outside the door, the team stepped inside Cortex's room ready to investigate and navigate the unknown.

* * *

Nina and Neo headed through Totem Hokum, back to Dr. Jacobson's office. Cortex was impressed by the way his hoverboard handled the ride over here, it didn't malfunction or give him trouble once. "I gotta admit, the team did an amazing job repairing this."

"Yeah, what a nice set of minions we have." Nina acknowledged as she jumped off the board and extended her arms out. Grabbing the branches she started swinging from tree to tree with her grappling hands. Her uncle fully understood, she prefered to use her robotic hands sometimes when she didn't feel like walking. Cortex couldn't complain. "You used to say that those minions of yours were worthless, but they aren't I mean, they made us breakfast, and they repaired your board."

Cortex couldn't agree more, of course, something about that didn't feel right. To him, it just felt..weird. "True, they did do nice work, but of course, I think there's something more behind that motive. Something I'm not seeing. I mean, they prepared breakfast, they were up at the crack of dawn, and Uka Uka _not_ yelling at me? I mean, I no longer work under him, but still..." He just couldn't beleive it. _'What are they up to?'_

"Perhaps they're just being nice?" Nina pointed out. "But anyway, it was a nice little gesture."

"Maybe, ah, nevermind about them, let's just get back to Dr. Jacobson." The sound of the newly repaired rockets roaring overhead caught the residents attention. Looking up, the native villagers were surprised to see that Cortex was back. He gazed down upon them and laughed, "Ha, ha, try and get me now suckers, you can't even touch me!" Cortex taunted.

"Don't get too cocky now Uncle Neo." Nina warned. The natives hurled their spears, into the sky, to which Cortex just flew out of range. The girl swung out of the way before she got pelted in the side. "Oh, see. Now what did I tell you?"

"Sorry Nina. But you know, the last thing I need is to be tied to a post for a second time. I hate being restricted. That and being stabbed again, I have a low threshold for pain." Cortex admitted.

Papu Papu wouldn't be going after the scientist this time. The native villagers angrily shook their fists in the air and retreated, while the Cortex duo made the transition up to the largest hut in the village. Nina lept down from the branch she was holding onto, and landed on the balcony. She retracted her hands back into their metal sockets as Cortex hopped off his board and leaned it up against the door.

A mixture of both adrenaline and thrill ran through him. "Wow, she flies much better now, not a bad ride. Can't beleive the team almost pulled an all nighter to spruce it up for me. And I didn't get speared today. See without Uka Uka driving me to the point of insanity, I'm able to think and my life is no longer stressful."

"Glad to hear that." The two Cortex's then gazed upon the sign hanging on the door.

"The Therapist is In"

Taking a deep breath Cortex raised his hand and knocked on the door. _'I didn't want to come back here, but I have to. Already this is going better than the last visit.'_ The door swung open, and as soon as Dr. Jacobson saw who it was, his eyes widened.

* * *

Uka Uka and the N Team stepped inside Cortex's room, leaving the door slightly cracked so they could hear the alarm if it went off. They fanned out into different directions. Brio looked under his bed while N Gin took the computer on his desk. Aside from being a robotics specialist, he was also technologically inclined. He clicked on a file labled photos, nothing but designs and schematics for new weapons and mechs, and silly pictures that he had downloaded from the internet.

"Do you really think we'll find anything?" N Brio asked, popping out from underneath the bed after finding nothing but useless junk (mainly crumpled up papers, garbage, and dust bunnies.)

"Probably, I'm still getting the impression that he's hiding something." Tropy headed tword his closet. "We just have to figure out what." Looking inside there was nothing but labcoats and hangers.

"Let's just get this done before he gets back." Uka Uka urged.

The master of time caught sight of a white tarp hanging on the wall, covering what looked like a square cubbyhole. N Tropy pulled the sheet off just as N Gin clicked on a digital file labled 'Top Secret Playlist' after pulling out and inserting a flashdrive. When both of them saw what they had uncovered, the two minions almost fainted from shock.

* * *

Cortex simply looked at the therapist before giving a nervous wave. "Dr. Cortex?" There was a hint of shock in Jacobson's voice. "This is certainly a surprise, you are the last person I expected to see today. And I wasn't even expecting anybody today." He admitted.

"Likewise Dr. Jacobson." That was one thing that both doctors agreed on.

"Plus, I seem to recall, that when you were here yesterday, you groaned and your last words were, 'Yes alright. You win, we'll be back.' But I said, I needed you and Crash back next week. Why are _you_ here today?" The therapist cocked his head to one side, clearly perplexed by the scientists prescence.

"Crash isn't here, but I'm actually not alone this time." Cortex stepped aside to reveal Nina. "She is a wonderful neice."

The girl smiled and waved, "Hello, good to see you again Eric."

"And you too Nina."

The scientist draped an arm around her, "Nina here is very supportive. I don't think I could ask for a better neice."

"Yes, when she was here with Coco, she told me all about your past failures, your rivalry with Crash, and how much she cares about you." Cortex froze at the mention of his name. Dr. Jacobson gestured with his hands for them to come in. "Well, don't just stand there, come on in you two. You're letting the cold air out." Nina and Cortex stepped inside and closed the door behind them. The pair were led down the hallway back tword the office.

"Confidence, you can do this. He's here to help you." The angel reminded.

"You wanna listen to Mr. Goody Two Shoes over here? That's fine, just sort out this conflict. Cause you've only taken my advice like one time already. Nobody ever wants to listen to me. So, have at it Cortex." The devil said. The man nodded his head yes.

"As I recall from our last session doctor, you said you were confused by how Crash keeps foiling your plans."

"Yes, I just don't get it, and I don't think I'll ever get it. I just can't understand how he can be so goofy, but at the same time, he's also quick on his feet."

"Yes, you said you've never been able to beat him. So, is that why you're here today?" Cortex shook his head. "No? That's not it?" Jacobson tapped his chin with his pen. "Hm? So then what brings you here today Dr. Cortex?"

"Well...I..." Cortex groaned, he really didn't know how to describe his current situation. "This will take a bit of explaining." As the trio stepped inside the office, the therapist grabbed up his clipboard once again. The former native got comfy in his chair and clicked his pen. Dr. Jacobson had only hoped that their little talk last time had made Cortex do some thinking.

And it certainly did. "Alright, tell me what's on your mind. Any problems since we talked last?"

"Well... yes, there have been some." The scientist heaved a long sigh, and laid back while Nina went over and stood by Dr. Jacobson. Cortex knew that he wasn't going to rush this session, he then took a deep breath and spoke exactly what was on his mind. "I'm so confused doctor." Cortex reached his arm out and grabbed a fresh Wumpa Fruit from the bowl and bit into it. It's purple juices dripped down his chin.

"Why's that?"

"Well, for one, you've gotten into my head. Mainly because of what you said about Crash last time. You said specifically, and I quote, 'If you say he's an idiot, then how come you've never been able to beat him?' I'll be honest with you, he isn't the biggest idiot that I know. Me and my colleague experimented on a blue kangaroo, and it failed. Ripper Roo was one of our first test subjects, and I ignored his warnings about waiting to turn him evil, and the Australian creature was turned completely insane. Same thing happened with Crash, but honestly, Ripper Roo is twice the crazy than that orange bandicoot. In fact he was so unstable, that we had to put him in a straight jacket and put him through a couple years of intense therapy. He loves to throw dynamite too."

"Wow, that is crazy, but do you really think of Crash as 'any' amount of crazy?" Dr. Jacobson didn't think Crash seemed too insane when he first met him. "Cause like I said, he seems rather sweet."

"Maybe, but sometimes, he does things without thinking." Cortex lifted up his coat and showed him the stab wound. The gauze was soaked in blood once more.

"Yikes, that's a awful looking wound you've got there."

He didn't need to be reminded of that. "Yeah, Papu Papu and the natives got me before me and Crash even made it up here to your office. I let him take the lead, because I didn't want to have to remember what had happened here. A few days ago, I got tied up to a totem pole by Papu Papu and his minions. I don't even know why they were mad at me." Cortex just couldn't figure that one out. It currently remained a mystery.

"So, you let Crash take the lead because you wanted to forget about those horrible memories?"

Cortex nodded, pulling his lab coat down. After he shook his head yes, he realized that he might as well tell Dr. Jacobson the truth. "Yes, I did and truth is after I gave him a chance, I stepped on a branch and caught the natives attention. Me and Crash took cover in a shrub but they jabbed their spears into it and right into my side. That's how I got this injury."

"And you put the blame on him?"

"Yes, I said it was his fault, but maybe I was just worked up, because after we left your office yesterday, I almost got a spear right in the neck. I then jumped into Crash's arms and told him to hightail it out of here. I took my anger out on him. I shouldn't have, I only have myself to blame for that one."

Hearing that left Jacobson a bit surprised but the therapist was able to wrap around what he was saying, "I get it now Cortex, instead of blaming yourself at the time, you instead went ahead and blamed Crash, who apparently didn't do anything wrong. But you soon realized that it was your own fault. We call that self realization." He explained. Cortex turned his head sideways and looked him right in eyes.

"Oh, you are good. I also think that Crash..." The scientist hesitated for a breif moment. "I think that maybe he isn't as bad as I thought he was." Just saying that felt like acid on his tounge. He looked at Nina who had a smile that, after hearing her uncles last remark transitioned into a wide eyed look of shock. Dr. Jacobson beared the same expression. What would their reactions be to that response?


	11. Mission Impossible: Truth Be Told Part 2

Nina and Dr. Jacobson sat there looking stunned for a good amount of time, they wouldn't blink, or even talk (it was like they were hypnotised.) Cortex only assumed they were taking in what he had said; of course it never dawned on him that they would be this speechless. The two glanced at each other then back to the scientist maybe once or twice, but that was it. "Guys? You ok?" Cortex sat up, and waved his hands in front of their faces. He got no response, both were like statues. "Say something. Anything." He then got an idea; raising his hand, Cortex snapped a finger, breaking his neice and the therapist out of their little trance-like state.

"What? What happened?" Nina asked, suddenly looking around. Turning her head, she refocused her attention on Cortex. "Are you part hypnotist now?"

Breathing in a sigh of relief, her uncle spoke, "Oh good, you two were starting to scare me. And no I'm not a hypnotist Nina. I said that I didn't think Crash was as bad as I used to think."

Leaning forward in his chair, the therapist gave a smile of satisfaction, "So, my words got to you. I'm doing my job then. Sorry for the lack of response there Cortex, we were just in shock, cause you seem to have a had a change in heart for Crash. Is that correct?" Cortex didn't verbally say it, but he replied with a yes by shaking his head. Jacobson was glad Cortex had taken his words into consideration. "When did this start? Yesterday?"

 _'Why, does he have to be right?'_ He thought, looking to his neice who gave a hopeful smile back. The man twiddled his fingers and kept on talking, "Yes, I beleive it did start yesterday. Also the previous night, it gave me quite a scare, I woke up frightened by a horrible nightmare. Which was partly about him." Cortex felt chills run through him, the image of Crash's limp and lifeless body still burned fresh into his mind.

That immediate respone caught the therapists attention in a snap. "Really? Care to give me the details? What caused you to have an almost sleepless night?"

"Tell him, Uncle Neo, I'm sure you'll feel better once you get it out of your system." Nina persuaded. She wasn't trying to rush him, the girl was trying to persuade him, knowing it would be a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.

Cortex knew she was right and as much as he _didn't_ want to go into detail, he had to, "You're right, thank you Nina. About my nightmare doctor; I found myself back on Twinsanity Island, the dark evil tenth dimensional counterpart of N Sanity Island. It was where my pet parrots, who turned into the Evil Twins that I told you about in our first session, were sent. I accidently sent them there when I was only eight years old, a test run with one of my first inventions went horribly wrong and I had no way of finding them. I had longed to see them again, but it wasn't the way I had imagined. I was captured by their soilders and dragged to Victor and Moritz so they could finish me off."

"Yikes, so they were holding a grudge against you for quite some time?"

"Yes, they were. And thanks to their hatred for what I caused them to be, I was almost eaten alive by Evil Crash, the 10th dimensional opposite counterpart of the real Crash. The twins felt no remorse, and even though it was all a dream I still said I was sorry. But they didn't accept it."

"Did your childhood pets want to do away with you?

"They did indeed. My past came back to haunt me, but Crash actually saved me." The more Cortex thought about what the therapist, angel and devil had said, the more the scientist realized that Crash wasn't so bad after all. "And here's the worst part of the dream: the twins idea of revenge on me for ruining their lives was having Evil Crash kill his good counterpart instead of me. And he did just that. Normally I should've been happy that Crash was out of my life, but I wasn't doctor! To tell you the solid truth, I was...heartbroken!" Cortex felt that last word burn his tounge like an acidic Wumpa Fruit, but his concerned neice was right, he did feel a lot better. On the inside though, he was trying to fight back the tears that he felt welling up.

Eric's eyes widened in shock, his mouth falling open in surprise. After their first session, that was the last remark that he'd ever expected to hear.

After jotting that down on paper in a flash and taking a minute to let that sink in, the therapist started to understand what Cortex was going through. "You have had a change in heart about him. I'm glad to help." He was impressed that he was doing his job, of course, there was a theory running around in his head. One that he would get to soon enough...

* * *

N Gin and N Tropy gasped, while at the same time recoiling back in surprise and disbeleif. Their eyes not beleiving for second at what they had discovered. "You guys have to see this." The cyborg called over.

"No, no, I think that this is even more shocking and disturbing than whatever it is that you've found. So you come over here." Tropy ordered. Both scientists looked tword Uka Uka and Brio. It was quite clear that they wanted those two to sort out their conflict for them.

The chemist and witch doctor decided to go over to N Gin first, while N Tropy's mouth fell open in disbelief. He was shocked that they went to the lunatic scientist first. Shaking it off, Tropy decided he should join them, he was second in command after all. "Alright you win, what did you find?"

N Gin got up from the chair and gestured his hands tword the computer screen. "A file labled Top Secret Playlist, but it's not what you would think. It's actually a complication of songs my master." He answered, followed by one of his insane chuckles. "Let's see here, there's...hold on." Pausing for a second, he counted them all up. "Twenty one to be exact." As he clicked the download button, (to start transferring them onto the flashdrive for the team to listen to later) the group, peaked with curiosity, gazed upon some of the titles of the songs and quite a few of them took the scientists by surprise; Hold Me Now, How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?, My Heart Will Go On, Vision Of Love, I Will Always Love You...

"What is this?" Uka Uka wondered. He never knew what Cortex had on his computer...until now. "Man, we should snoop through his stuff more often." The more the evil mask knew, the better for him and everyone else on the team.

"Seems like a playlist of ballad love songs to me." N Brio observed. He could only figure that his old friend from the Academy of Evil had been trying to get a girlfriend ever since they got kicked out due to an explosion in science class. Brio's first attempt with potions went horribly wrong, literally destroying the whole lab, along with his and Cortex's first (prototype) Evolvo Ray.

"Maybe he's still working on trying to get a girlfriend?" N Gin guessed.

Tropy rolled his eyes and scoffed at that theory, "Yeah right, in his wildest dreams could he ever get one. But I think it may not be about a girl at all." The master of time replied. He hoped that they would be curious enough to know what he had unveiled underneath the tarp and cubby on the wall. "Now would you all come over here. I think you guys will want to see this."

"Alright, what did you..." Uka Uka trailed off and didn't finish that thought as him and the rest of the team approached what looked like a shrine. A large photo that was about ten times the original size of the first picture of Crash he had was nailed onto the wall above his bed. The dark palm tree wood of the Wumpa trees that made up the enclosed cubby hole, perfectly encased the image like a huge picture frame. Little Wumpa Fruit colored candles surrounded the whole outer edge of the wooden shelf. The aroma of their pleasant scent soon hit their noses. "Candles hun?"

"Looks like it." N Tropy took a whiff of one of them. "Hm, lavender scented. These are relaxation candles." He observed.

Uka Uka could only assume that was all because of him. "I think know why." That peaked everyone's curiosity. "When Cortex stood up to me, he said that I might've been the reason he kept failing. He said that I stress him out to the point where he can't even hear himself think."

"It's true, you do do that." N Gin said, causing the mask to growl at him. "Sorry." Turning away from him, he slowly walked backward back over to the computer. Pulling out the flashdrive, N Gin closed the file before rejoining everyone.

Alongside the flaming pieces of melting, dripping wax, there lied other objects; Wumpa Fruits, a pro and con list, multiple photos of Crash, (all taken from a distance over the last couple of years) even a tiny glass canister housing a glowing pink liquid. There was a piece of tape wrapped around it that read "Pure Love".

Lifting up the glass container, Tropy asked, "Isn't this what Cortex has in his ray gun?" He shook it around a bit and the contents inside wiggled like jelly.

"Yes it is, it's the Love Setting, but in it's purest form. Plasma. Wait a minute, I thought he only had one photo of Crash?" N Brio picked up several pictures and flipped through them; one was of him with his toothy grin, another was taken at breakfast; the bandicoot had a pancake right on his head with syurp running down his face licking it up, a third one was of him toying with his yo-yo, and the image that followed that one showed Crash all tangled up in the string.

"Ha! That _is_ pretty funny." N Gin said, trying to muffle a laugh. It didn't work though.

Two more Cortex had snapped during the night with a night vision lens, were of the bandicoot fast asleep with a puddle of drool next to him on the pillow, and another one from a different night showed him laying halfway on/ halfway off the mattress snoring away. Crash could more than likely, sleep through just about anything.

"Oh my god, he's a stalker!" Replied everyone in unison. The team knew he was hiding something, but they never imagined it would be this shocking. Setting the pictures and objects down, they decided to take some time to process their findings.

"Wow, I thought he said he hated Crash, I mean he did lable him as a failed creation." Brio remembered. "And plus, he ignored my warnings about waiting to put him in the vortex a decade ago." He slowly picked up the multitude of items and carefully analyzed them. One by one, Brio turned them over and over in his hands.

N Tropy and Uka Uka put their heads together and thought long and hard about this situation. "A compilation of love songs, a shrine, Wumpa Fruit, which is the main diet of that orange marsupial." The time master observed analyzing one set of objects.

Uka Uka looked over at the other one, "Photos of his nemesis, the pure form of the Love Setting of his ray gun in a vile, scented wax candles with a relaxing aroma, and his strange behavior."

N Gin tried to follow along with his fellow scientists, but his brain couldn't process all of it at once. His eyes darted back and forth between the two, before he went completely cross-eyed. Finally the cyborg asked; "um can you guys explain this, I can't follow?"

Tropy hung his head and shook it, while at the same time Brio placed a hand on N Gins shoulder and gave a smile, "Your brains been working ever so slow since the missle accident, but allow me to explain. I believe I know exactly what's going on. I had a theory earlier after seeing Dr. Cortex with the one photo of Crash, but I felt like I needed more proof before I voiced my theory, and after seeing this shrine, I've concluded that it was right on point."

"Well, what is it?! Whaddya got?!" The group flocked around the chemist, practically squishing him in the process. All except Uka Uka who floated up above. Everyone was tensed up, waiting to hear the reveal that they couldn't contain themselves.

Backing up slightly to avoid getting crushed, their fellow scientist spoke, "I think know why he said he didn't have a plan to beat Crash..." Brio trailed off, leaving them in suspense for a few moments. They leaned in close to him. "It's think it's because...he's in love with him."

Everyone froze after hearing that, their eyes and mouths, unmoving. It was like time had stopped as jaws dropped to the floor. All of them staggered backward, letting Brio catch his breath. The news was so shocking, that N Gin and N Tropy stumbled backward and flopped onto Cortex's bed. They gazed up at the ceiling for a few brief moments looking a bit dazed. It was made clear by their reactions that N Brio wasn't phased by this, as he stood there with his head held high. He had known ever since Cortex had revealed that picture that something was up.

Uka Uka shook himself around, his voodoo bones clacking together. "I'm sorry, I thought you just said that Cortex was in love with that brainless bandicoot?"

"That's exactly what I just said. The proof is in the pudding right here; the Love Setting, the photos, all the songs on his computer, the whole 'shrine' thing. The 8 x10 glossy photo he's always got with him. Connect the dots you guys." Brio urged as the cyborg and time master picked themselves up after another minute of lying down.

"You can't be serious, can you?" The evil mask asked. Brio said nothing to let them think about it for another breif moment. "Oh, you are serious, ok. I can't beleive Cortex! He lied about the one photo of Crash! He's not carrying it around to fill himself with hate because he doesn't hate him! Instead he's head over heels for his worst enemy!"

"The photos, the shrine...he is so dead when he gets back here!" Tropy screamed, tightening his grip on his tuning fork.

"You're right!" Uka Uka exclaimed. "He's got some explaining to do!" Him and the rest of the team were just completely stunned by their discovery, but Brio shook it off and raised his hands.

"Woah, woah, ok. I know we're all in shock about this, but if we just start accusing Cortex and forcing him to tell us the truth, it's more than likely he won't tell us anything." Brio replied, knowing that they needed to think of a plan. He knew his old friend and colleague from years ago very well. "We have to be smart about how we approach this. We need a plan."

After a minute of pondering, the time master spoke, "You're the chemist and the mixologist of the bunch, so how about prepare us a little truth serum? Hm?" Tropy persuaded.

Brio thought that over in his head, he liked the sound of that idea. "Oh, good idea. I was thinking lie detector, but this'll work much better."

"Yeah, truth serum. If you know anything about that kind of mixture that is?"

N Brio scowled at him, his hands balling into fists. How dare N Tropy have doubts about him. That insult was enough to make him drink a vile of one of his mutating potions. But he resisted the urge to do so. Instead he pointed tword the celing and said, "Of course I do, and I'll prove it to you; I'll head down to the lab right now and whip up a batch! Cortex didn't start calling me his right hand man for nothing!" Brio then stomped angrily out of the room, throwing his hands in the air and grumbling to himself as he went.

"Touchy. Alright, let's get out of here before Cortex gets back." Uka Uka advised. "And N Gin, go clean up that mess you made downstairs earlier." He ordered. N Gin gave a quick salute and sprinted off to find the dustpan and broom.

N Tropy placed the tarp back over the cubby hole after snatching up the pro and con list. _'I hope this serum of his works.'_ He thought as him and the witch doctor made their way out the door, collecting the one spybot along the way.

* * *

Cortex breathed in a sigh of relief, happy to have taken his neices advice. "I do feel better, thanks a lot Eric." He smiled as he started to sit up. "And you too Nina, maybe I'll actually get a peaceful slumber tonight."

"Hold it Cortex, we're not done yet. Just a couple more questions I want to ask you."

He lied back down, "Alright...shoot." Another lump formed in his throat. What on Earth would he ask?

Dr. Jacobson got up out of his chair and strolled over to the bookshelf. Cortex cocked his head around, (practically staining his neck in the process) to see what the native was looking for. He saw Eric pull from the shelf, the same book he noticed when him and Crash first stepped inside his office; "Is It Hate, Love, or Something Much Deeper?" By Dr. Eric Jacobson. The scientist whipped back around in a flash, hands gripping at his chest where his heart supposedly was. Nina noticed her uncles action, but didn't say anything.

"Um, Nina you wouldn't mind waiting out in the hall would you?"

The goth girl nodded and hugged him, Nina wasn't one to judge her uncle. "Alright, I'll be waiting right outside, just holler if you need anything from me." Giving him a pat on the shoulder, she stepped out of the office.

Now it was just the therapist and the scientist. One on one.

Jacobson came back and plopped down in his chair, the hardcover book clutched in his hands. "I saw you eyeing this when you first arrived here with Crash. Don't think I didn't notice it and your reaction Cortex, I have eyes and ears all over this office."

"Um...what was m-my reaction t-to seeing that book?" Cortex wondered, his voice suddenly going high-pitched.

"You took one look at the title, turned away and shuddered, almost as if you realized something. You said you hated Crash right?"

"Of course I do." Cortex said folding his arms over his chest in defiance. His eyes however looking elsewhere, trying not to be a hundred percent focused and giving his attention to the therapist.

"Cause if you say you hate him and you want him out of your life, then why did you say you were heartbroken after your nightmare when you saw him get killed right before your eyes?" Eric then noticed Cortex's eyes focusing his diplomas and not on him. The therapist snapped a finger. "Cortex."

The scientist jumped out of his skin and rolled off the sofa. Landing hard on the wooden floor, he winced in pain, this was worse than his spear injury. "Who? What? What happened?" Right after he said that, he realized that he had said the same thing that Nina had said moments ago. His eyes looked up to meet Dr. Jacobsons who was clearly in shock by his actions. "Oh hi." That was the best Cortex could muster. He couldn't even be bothered to haul himself to his feet.

Clasping his hands together, Eric revealed his little theory he had. "I beleive that it may not be hate you feel for Crash." There was a long scilence that followed that sentence.

"Well, maybe you're right, when we left here yesterday and I told you this already, I almost got speared, jumped into Crash's arms and told him to get out of here. But here's the other thing; on the boat ride back to my lab, I was this close to blasting him and disintegrating him right out of my life, but for some reason, my conscience told me the opposite. It told me not to do it, and also that I sought comfort from my worst enemy whenever were together, and I get myself into trouble. And they're right, without Crash I think I'd be lost...and probably dead. Cortex couldn't believe what he was saying. "Ah, what is happening to me?! I want him gone, but at the same time I don't. I'm still confused, and when I said I didn't have a plan to beat Crash, my minions thought I was coming down with something. They thought I was sick."

The therapist watched Cortex, carefully observing his behavior analyzing his motions while he explained; fingers were twiddling, eyes darting rapidly from left to right looking tword nothing in patricular, sweat starting to form on his forehead. Soon, Eric presented his theory, he set his clipboard down and spoke, "I know exactly what's going on Cortex."

"Really? Well you are the therapist. Whatddya got?" The scientist would be amazed at him if he got this right the first time.

"Well truth be told, you're right about being sick Cortex, problem is this is a different kind of sick than what you think it is. I beleive that..." As Dr. Jacobson paused for a great effect, he could only imagine Cortex's reaction.

"That...what doctor, what is it?" The suspense was mentally killing Cortex.

"Well they say that sometimes the person you hate the most is often the one you love the most. Now judging from what you just told me about you and Crash: mainly your nightmare, and what I've observed throughout this session today, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I beleive that you may be lovesick over him." The therapist revealed.

'Lovesick' The first part of that word struck the scientist right in the heart, a blush coating his face. Cortex's eyes widened as he felt the sharp pain in his chest. Why did Eric mention that word?

"Listen to your heart, you know you want to." The angel spoke in his ear. The devil on the other hand made the gagging gesture, but remained silent.

Picking himself up off the floor and settling back onto the sofa, Cortex looked him right in the eyes. Taking a minute to collect his thoughts, he then came clean. "No Dr. Jacobson...as much as I hate to admit this, you're not wrong in your theory. You're...dare I say it..." The scientist hesitated for a brief moment. "You're right."


	12. Family Matters

"Come and get it guys! Time for lunch!" Crunch called from the kitchen. Polar scrabbled tword his food bowl in front of the fridge, and Crunch poured the small cub his lunch pellets and water. The young bear clapped his paws together happily and began eating. The mention of food was enough to get anyone running tword the kitchen.

Crash jumped up in a heartbeat from where he was sitting on the floor brushing Pura (since Coco wasn't here to do it), and started tword the kitchen. The baby cub trailing behind him. Baby T then stood up and stretched before strolling tword his meal with the rest of his companions.

Crash paused as soon as he remembered something;

Coco

The two bandicoot brothers and Aku Aku hadn't seen her all morning. Even Pura was getting concerned because Coco hadn't even come to get breakfast. (Crash would've scarfed down her food as well as his own, if it wasn't for Aku Aku stopping him, and Crunch putting the food into the fridge) That was a sure sign something was up, Coco never missed the most important meal of the day, and now here she was, missing lunch as well.

Knowing she must be starving, Crash headed down the hall tword his siblings room, stopping briefly to look at the clock along the way, it read 11:49. Walking back to his older brother after he had wondered if she was even in her room, Crash tapped Crunch on the shoulder. The muscular bandicoot turned around, while continuing to spread peanut butter and Wumpa Fruit jam between pieces of bread. "What is it Crash?" The younger bandicoot snatched up a flower from the vase on the table, and placed it on his head, right behind his ear. Crash then pointed to it then down the hallway.

"I think he's asking where Coco is at and why she didn't come to breakfast. Is that right?" Aku Aku guessed. Crash clicked his teeth and smiled at the mask. Over the years, the witch doctor mask had gotten good at understanding Crash's way of non verbal communication. He was glad that someone, other than Cortex could tell what he meant.

Soon his ears pricked up when he heard something; it sounded like the clang of metal. "What is it, you hear something?" Crunch wondered. Crash scurried over to the door that led out into the garage and pressed his ear up against it, (crushing the flower in the process.) Pura did the same; running over, and standing up on her hind legs. Soon, Crunch followed through after getting his sister's breakfast out of the fridge and warming it back up. He placed it next to her sandwich and followed everyone else. They all heard what sounded like a socket wrench turning. Raising his hand, Crash knocked on the door. Nobody answered from the other side. Curious, he opened the door and peaked inside. Coco was lying on a creeper underneath the Bandibuggy, with her flower decorated toolbox at her feet, tinkering away, and completely oblivious to their presence. She was focused.

The baby tiger crept over slowly. Trying to avoid startling her owner, Pura gave a small warning meow and brushed up against her leg, before sitting back and waiting for a reaction. After another minute, the female bandicoot stopped turning a loose bolt and slid out from under the vehicle, her yellow mechanic jeans that she wore whenever she was doing automotive repair, was covered in splotches of oil, transmission, and other fluids.

Pulling a rag from her back pocket, Coco took it and wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Ok, the transmission should be fixed now." Coco looked up to meet her brothers and her tiger companion. "Oh, hi guys, I didn't hear you come in." She replied. "What's up?"

"How long have you been out here?" Crunch wondered. Him and Aku Aku gave a worried glance to one another, clearly concerned about Coco and her health. Had she eaten anything or even gotten any sleep since last night? Crash carefully analyzed her face, she didn't look sleep deprived.

Coco sat her wrench back in her box and brushed her hair out of her face before responding. "Oh, I've been up since the crack of dawn. I couldn't stay asleep for five minutes, I was restless, so I decided to catch up on some things. The Bandibuggy's transmission started acting up right after that final race against Nitrous Oxide, so I thought I'd do a little tinkering here and there. Trying to get it running smoothly in case he returns to Earth to try and destroy it again." She paused. "Or if Velo comes back here. Plus I've been looking for some time to figure out what was wrong and finally fix it, and now I have."

The three of them were not buying that story at all. It was definitely something else. Aku Aku then spoke up, "Now Coco, we all know that's not the reason for you to be out here since early this morning is it? Remember that Oxide said he was done racing against planets like ours. And we don't know what became of Velo." He carefully asked, "It's Cortex isn't it?" That was the one and only thing the mask could figure.

Coco exhaled a long sigh and nodded her head before hauling herself to her feet, "You're right, I know, but when him and Crash set off to Dr. Jacobsons office, all I felt was anxiety that something bad would happen to Crash both there and back. You know their history." She buried her head in her hands.

"We understand, and you are an amazing sister, I mean the way you're always concerned about him and me. You sometimes put our needs before your own. That's what being a good sister means." Crunch said as he smiled. The older bandicoot then showed her the plate of mouthwatering sandwiches. There was more than enough for everyone, "Now come on, let's get you some lunch, and also some breakfast, you need to eat something." Crash reached for one, but Crunch batted his hands away.

"Peanut butter and Wumpa Fruit, my favorite." With that said, Coco licked her lips as she was led inside.

* * *

Dr. Jacobson slightly slumped down in his chair as he wrote down Cortex's remark to his theory, but his warm smile remained. He was a bit shocked also, he never thought he would have one patient basically change overnight after just one session. Cortex looked at him, curious as to what Eric would have to say. He polished off two more Wumpa Fruits from the bowl and reached for another as he waited to hear what was in store for him next.

Cortex had to admit, he was starting to understand why Crash loved these so much. _'Why have I taking a liking to these over the years? Is it because they're sweet like him?'_ He let out a happy sigh before he realized what he was thinking about. _'Gah! Why am I thinking like this?!'_ He thought to himself.

It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and after one more minute of the scilence, the therapist spoke. "Perhaps you've never really hated Crash at all, maybe the real reason you only say those negative things about him is because you're scared to admit to him how you really feel."

At that point Cortex started protesting, "But you don't understand Dr. Jacobson, even though I said you're right, he's still my worst enemy! I'm not suppose to be in love with him!" He tried to keep his voice down, but it was quite hard to do when the therapist was presenting theories to him.

"Yes Cortex, you say that, but the reason you're feeling this way about him, could this be because you're possibly trying to fill in something that's missing from your life? What exactly caused you to become the way you are now? Any problems in your childhood, aside from what you told me about your pets when you were 8?"

"My...my childhood?" Cortex gasped in fright as he remembered the worst place on Earth...Smiling Jimmy's Traveling Circus. Even though he was quite young at the time, Cortex could only remember the bad memories. Soon they came back and images flashed through his mind. He heard the laughter from hundreds of people, the big, bright lights, and all the humiliation that came with it. Cortex's childhood was a place that he wanted to forget instead of revisit, "No, no, NO!" Fear overtook him, and he started visibly shaking. He called for his neice as he flopped over onto one side, and hugged his knees up against his chest, "Nina!"

The goth girl poked her head back in the room. "Yes Uncle Neo." As she opened the door all the way and stepped inside, Nina feared the worst. And she was right, Cortex was as white as a ghost and on the verge of tears once more. "What's wrong now?"

"Nina, there's one thing you don't know about me, something that I've kept hidden for years after you came along. Hopefully my mother didn't tell you already." Neo really didn't want to go any deeper into his life story, but after everything Nina had done to help him so far, Cortex thought his neice deserved to know the truth. He decided to just suck it up and tell her. "It's about our old family and why you hardly knew them, truth is, I was the youngest son. Bought into the world by a family of...circus clowns. I was born during the show, and immediately thrown into the act with my twenty brothers and sisters. Imagine my confusion."

The girl didn't know which bit of news surprised her more. "Twenty brothers and sisters?! Wait...circus clowns?! What?! I never knew that." Nina was completely shocked that she had to sit down beside Cortex, and process this new information that had been presented to her. Nina never knew her uncle came from that large of a family. Two, three, even four siblings she could understand, but twenty? The scientists eyes widened as his mind began to wander. Back to the day he was born. Cortex recalled that event it as if it were only yesterday. Even though, he really didn't want to talk about it.

"Yes, our large family, I could never understand why they loved the spotlight and life under the big top, it was always too much for me...we had our differences, but mom and dad never saw things my way. After I was brought into the world, they immdieatly slathered me up with paint and a bright red nose. I was laughed at by everyone in a matter of seconds. That's the reason I hate clowns and never wanted to become one." Cortex then remembered Norm from Velo's Citadal:

_"Go away you filthy clown."_

_"Where do you get off calling me a clown, with your_ _big head and stupid springy hair?"_

He swallowed hard, "Even mimes freak me out." Just picturing Norm's painted face was enough to make him tremble in horror.

This was news to Dr. Jacobson for sure. "Woah, really, did your parents have high expectations for you? And don't you think they started a little early?"

Cortex shuddered once again, but kept right on talking, "They did indeed. While other kids were getting their first bike, I was being shot out of a cannon. They even did the ol' pie in the face/selzier water act on me, and I was forced to wear a monkey suit and crawl around on all fours! And the reason I know this is because mom told me years ago." Nina and Eric's jaws hit the floor.

Just how bad was his childhood?

"I'm sorry you had to suffer that." His neice patted him on the head and ran a hand up and down his back. Cortex took a long, deep breath to calm himself. "What ever happened to the rest of our family?" Nina asked, her eyes lined with curiosity.

"A freak explosion, caused by me and a nearby fireworks factory wiped out everyone, except for my mother Natalie. Who I think is also your great aunt? I never actually studied the family tree. You came along years after cause I think one of my sister's married, before getting erased from existence, so that's why you never knew anyone else in our family. I was left to fend for myself at a young age, while Natalie took up a different job at a club over in the mountains near where my lab is at. You see I purposely caused the accident, it was not a mistake. It was so I didn't have to follow in my familys footsteps. And I haven't the foggiest idea how Natalie survived but she did, I mean you had to have come from somewhere right? But you probably don't even remember her."

Nina sniffled, "I don't, I only know you. Probably cause I was so young."

"You were indeed. Actually I think you would really like her, you do bear a resemblance. I wonder what she does at her job? I can only imagine and I don't think I want to go there." Cortex gave a nervous laugh as he recalled hearing a familiar voice when him and Crash were sledding down the hill tword N Gin's battleship.

_"Coming through. Ladies. Excuse me madem. Are those real?"_

_"What is it?!"_

_"Mother?!"_

"You see, I didn't have the clown gene like everyone else, I was basically the Enstine of the family. I preferred to study, rather than partake in their silly antics. I got tormented and mocked. In fact, it got so bad that years before the explosion, they tattooed this N on my forehead. I was only three at that time. They said it stood for 'nerd'. With that and this was after everything went kaboom, I was shunned out of what was left of the family, a.k.a mother, for not wanting to make people laugh, and for fracturing our family. To which I was fine with. I still have you, and I'm glad you're always concerned about me." Cortex heaved a sigh, happy to have that out of the way. He sat up and stretched himself out, but Nina didn't stop comforting him.

Dr. Jacobson was stunned by that backstory, and also in shock that Nina didn't know anything about that until now. As he wrote all this down on his clipboard to put in his file for later, the former native felt a pang of sympathy for Dr. Cortex's tramatic childhood events, "So you didn't get treated with the real family love? Your parents never cared about you wanted? And all you have left is your neice and your mother? Wow, I'm so sorry to hear that. Did you also have a lack of friends growing up, is that why you created Crash?"

"Not exactly, I went through high school alone, cause everyone says I was no fun because of my love for science."'Science Nerd' they called me. Picked on until another explosion, caused by me, wiped the school off the face of the planet. You see, me and N Brio my first collegue, along with N Gin another friend of mine, first met at Madem Amberly's Acdemy of Evil after high school, but the torment from my previous school continued there too. I for the most part, tried to avoid everyone except Brio and N Gin all together. It was there I created the first prototype of the Evolvo Ray I used on all our minions, and possibly created the Evil Twins in the process. Then Brio accidently blew up the lab and my ray due to it being his first attempt with potions. He wanted a degree in Mixology, which failed horribly. So after Madem Amberly, the cruel headmistress kicked us to the curb, that's when we set up our castle on N Sanity Island. Ten years ago, I started my quest to counqer the islands, and Brio had perfected the art of potion and serum making. We then agreed to create a powerful army of mutated creatures using a new and improved ray to evolve and alter their DNA, followed by another high tech piece of machinery to make them evil, and Crash was one of the last creatures we used it on."

As he continued to listen to Cortex's life story, there was one thing that Dr. Jacobson just couldn't put together since their last chat. "Say Cortex?"

"Hm? Something up?"

"No, I was just curious, why exactly did you fail to turn him evil?"

"Well, Brio wanted to wait to Crash over to our side because the machine to brainwash him wasn't ready. Naturally, I was impatient, greedy, and I wanted it done asap. I ignored his warnings and Crash was rejected by the machine. I failed to make him the general of my army. But you know, after my nightmare last night, I well, I started to understand more about what you said in our first session. That if Crash really was the mindless idiot I thought he was, I would have beaten him 10 years ago. He truly is different than my other creations."

Nina looked tword Dr. Jacobson who was going back over his notes. "I did say that didn't I? And taking in everything that you just told me, I'm starting to see the reason why your conscience told you not to destroy him. I'm also sticking with my theory."

"You mean...?" Cortex started to say.

"Yes, since you never got treated with real family love, I sense that's the reason why seek comfort from Crash when you get yourself into trouble when you're with him. You don't want him gone, I mean he's sweet with you, and only wants to be your friend, but you turn him away and try to get him out of your life. They say that all relationships are built on trust, so maybe you can try to befriend Crash and put a little bit of faith into him again, instead of trying to terminate him into nothing?" He winked at the scientist. The therapist had a hunch that Cortex didn't want to say anything more about being in love with him since Nina was in the room.

"Alright Dr. Jacobson, but I've been trying to get rid of him since I created him, and we teamed up temporarily to stop the islands from being destroyed. But I tried to do away with him afterwards, so I don't know how I'll change my whole life around to befriend him." He grimaced after he said that. Just the thought of trying to be good to his arch nemesis made Cortex half sick to his stomach. "But I'm tired of losing to him and I...I just can't bear the thought of actually losing him forever."

"What are you doing?! Has a switch flipped inside you?! You're not supposed to feel love and sympathy for Crash! He's your worst enemy! Stop it!" The devil shouted.

"He's finally listening to his heart, like he should be." The angel couldn't help but smile. "In your face!"

"Oh you sicken me!" The angel just shrugged and they both disappeared in an instant once again.

"As I told Coco, Crash is one of very few people who actually care for me. Aside from Nina. But to try and make amends for all the things that have happened between me and him in the past? I'm not so sure I could."

Nina looked up at her uncle and gave a loving smile. "It's alright, you can do this. Just take it one step at a time."

"Your neice is right doctor, you can't rush a friendship, or relationship, or even love. But it's never too late to change who you really want to be. Even the bitterist of people can change their life around. I sensed you gave me the impression that you didn't need help when you first came to see me, but I think you're starting to benafit from all this. Yes?" Dr. Jacobson wondered as he took the notes from his clipboard, walked over to a cabnet, and placed them in Cortex's file.

Cortex knew very well how he really felt about his nemesis. He knew he had to listen to the angel and follow his heart. "Yes, once again you're right. I'll give it a try, I just want the fighting to end!" Taking another deep breath, he hugged Nina and then stood up to face the therapist, "Thank you. Both of you. I do want to be a better person and turn my life around Dr. Jacobson. I promise, I'll be back next week, with both Crash and Nina. And I'll try what you suggested about befriending Crash." As he took two steps forward, the therapist stopped him.

"Wait a minute Cortex." Eric picked up his self published book and tossed it to him. "Peruse that at your leisure." Cortex caught it in his hands before smiling and giving a nod. Him and Nina then headed out the door. The therapist gave a satisfied sigh. "It's good to be helping."

* * *

After getting cleaned up and getting out of her mechanic jeans, Coco took a seat at the table, and Crunch got her lunch and breakfast out of the fridge. After warming it back up in the microwave, he sat the plate in front of her. Bacon and eggs and a glass of freshly made Wumpa Fruit juice, the healthy breakfast.

"Here you go. Two meals made with love and care for our precious sibling." He announced.

Squeezing the sandwich in between her fingers, she licked her lips and bit into it. A smile of satisfaction grew upon Coco's face after just one savory bite. Picking up the utensils beside the plate, she started work on two meals. She had to admit; she was hungry. "Tasty. You guys know me so well. This is just what I needed. Thank you." Crash took a seat and picked up a fresh sandwich, while Crunch poured himself and Crash a tall glass of milk.

"So are you trying to distract yourself with projects to get your mind off of Cortex?" He wondered. The muscular bandicoot knew that their sister was always trying to occupy and bide her time very carefully. Coco had a mouthful of bread but managed to give a thumbs up to her brothers question. "Well, that's good, you've got both distractions and us to help you."

"Remember, you are going with him and Crash to therapy next week. You're still gonna go aren't you?" Aku Aku asked, hoping she didn't already have other plans.

Coco swallowed before giving a smile, "Yes, I am going because I'm concerned about Crash."

Aku Aku could only imagine the worst while thinking about Coco and Cortex in the same room together after what had already happened on the boat ride back from the lab. "I do agree that sometimes things get heated between you two. Could you try not to kill him while we're over there in a few days?" The mask asked as nicely as he could. "You know, try to contain your anger and control your little outbursts?" Crunch and Crash both nodded yes, but didn't say a word. Clearly everyone was worried about her.

Coco rubbed her chin as she thought about that, "Alright, I will try my best to be good. That alright with you Crash?" Crash gave two thumbs up and patted his dear sister on the head. "Good, you seem to be ok with therapy right?" He nodded. "You are nice with everybody aren't you?" Coco got the same response; a yes. "Crash, I sometimes wish that I could go with the flow like you do. Since you're never in a bad mood. Maybe I'll run that by Dr. Jacobson as well."

Soon Coco had managed to down her entire lunch and breakfast. Her siblings looked at her and gave a satisfied smile. "Feel better now?" Crunch wondered.

"Yes, yes I do. Alright guys, again, thank you for that wonderful meal." She scooped up the dirty utensils, along with the plate and sat them in the sink to be washed later. Pura then walked over to her owner, pushing a ball along with her nose. The tiger gave a happy meow and jumped up and down. "What Pura, do you want me to play fetch with you?" Coco's companion purred happily which made the bandicoot smile. "Alright, of course I'll play with you, I would never ignore or the rest of the family. I'll be outside if you guys need me!" She called as she followed Pura out the door, closing it behind her. Crunch and Crash headed tword the window, and watched their sister throw a ball and have her pet fetch it, and bring it back. "Good girl. There it goes again, go get it!" Coco giggled as she repeated the same process multiple times.

"See, distractions are good sometimes." Crunch remarked. "Now fingers crossed that rage doesn't overtake her, and she and Cortex cause a scene while in group therapy."

"I hope you're right about that Crunch." Aku Aku took a deep breath as he and everyone watched Coco from the dining room window. "For now, we can only wait and see. Only time will tell."


	13. Set A Course: Behind Enemy Lines

After having uncovered the truth, the N Team (excluding Cortex) was taking it easy at the moment. Of course, it wasn't exactly the relaxation type of taking it easy when there was work to be done. The three of them knew that once Dr. Cortex returned, they would have to plaster their unusually happy grin back onto their faces in order not to raise any suspicion. The less that Cortex knew what they were up to, the better.

Down in his lab basement, N Brio (who was grumbling silently to himself) had begun work on the truth serum. Very carefully, the chemist mixed various colored components together. Since it was the first time Brio had attempted a potion like this, he was using a step by step guide from a book that he owned. Sadly, he never managed to acheive that Mixology degree he'd set his sights on long ago. Brio was still however a little bit on edge about N Tropy's comment on weather or not he could provide the serum of truth that they needed to aid them in their little quest. How dare he have doubts? A dark look overcame him as he remembered that. "Oh, I'll show them..." He tightened his grip on the beaker he was holding. "I'll show them all what I'm capable of creating."

Uka Uka was floating around the castle, clearly still in shock after hearing Brio's theory about Cortex and his arch nemesis. He never thought that in a million years something like this would happen. "I cannot beleive that lying little...ah! Now I really ask myself, why did I help Nina and Coco to bring him back?! Why?!" Uka Uka then stormed back and forth about the main parlor.

In N Gin's room, N Tropy looked up from polishing his weapon, and glanced over at the mentally insane scientist who was inserting the flashdrive containing the file from Cortex's computer into the back of his own computer. "So are all those songs from that playlist centered around love?" He wondered.

"That's what Brio said. Some of them already specify that they are, due to their title, but I'm gonna double check just to be sure." N Gin opened the desk drawer and pulled out a set of headphones that had been shoved in there some time ago. "The more we know, the better." Scrolling down using the mouse, he skipped over and instead he gazed upon all the songs that didn't have the actual word love, or even words related to love in their title. The list was cut right in half, the playlist narrowed down to: Hold Me Now, End Of The Road, Everybody Hurts, Don't Speak, How Do I Live, Rolling In the Deep, Nothing Compares 2 U, Stay, Truly Madly Deeply, All That She Wants, and Fade Into You. Hitting the play button, he sat back and let technology do the work for him.

Tropy scratched his chin as N Gin started his analysis, "Twenty one songs, but eleven of them don't have the actual word love in their title, but can almost guarantee you right now that they've got something to do with love as well."

"Judging by what you're telling me, and from what I'm currently hearing, you're right on point. Hun, never noticed that until now. Probably cause we were in a rush." His colleague sat his tuning fork down for a breif moment as he picked up the pro/con list and unfolded it. The sound of rustling paper caught N Gin's attention in a snap. "What's that?" He wondered as he swiveled around in his chair to give N Tropy his full attention. N Gin uncovered one ear, but still continued to listen to the songs.

"A pro and con list I found when we were snooping through Cortex's stuff. It's a whole list revolving around Crash." Tropy cleared his throat and stared to read it aloud: "Pro: Sweet as can be. Con: Not evil. Alright, so those two statements right off the bat are true. And I think we can both agree that Cortex never wanted Crash evil to begin with." The rest of the list went as followed:

2\. Always has that happy toothy grin/Smile almost never changes

3\. Comes out victorious all the time/Rushes into things blindly and head on

"This list perfectly sums up Crash." N Tropy observed. Since Crash was his own creation, Cortex knew everything about him. Which also included his sleeping habits.

"You've got that right." A long scilence followed that remark, a thought entering N Gin's brain as he removed the headphones completely, "Hey do you remember Cortex saying something about Coco wanting to hit him for impersonating her?"

Tropy had to take a minute to recall that, "I do remember hearing that, she must have been pretty mad. Wait, what are you thinking of N Gin?" Normally the master of time was never the slightest bit curious as to anything that the cyborg thought of, but now he kind of was.

"Well, alright, just think about this for a moment; what if Brio's little serum you asked him to make...what if it doesn't fall through and work?" Stopping his thought right there, N Gin sat back and let Tropy try and piece together the plan.

"Hm. Ok, if the truth serum doesn't go according to plan..." Thinking long and hard about this, he gasped and snapped his finger in realization to what N Gin was talking about. "Then we could use Coco to our advantage, and then Cortex would have to tell us the truth!" N Tropy liked where this was going. Part of N Gin's brain still had some functioning cells in it after all. Tropy couldn't help but smile. First the upgraded spybots, and now a good idea that didn't involve missiles, "You're smarter than you let on sometimes N Gin. Finally you've managed to come up with something that doesn't fall under the categories of mechs and missles." He then called to his boss. "Uka Uka!"

After hearing his name being called (which also pulled him out of his tirade), the mask floated into the room, "Yes N Tropy, drum up a plan to eliminate Crash yet?"

"Not exactly, this is more along the lines of ringing the truth out of Cortex if the serum is a complete dud." Tropy explained. "N Gin?" He gestured the shorter man over to him.

N Gin shoved the headphones back into their drawer, and turned around again. He cleared his throat, and explained the plan of action, "Well, great Uka Uka, do you remember when Dr. Cortex told us that Coco wanted hit him?" The mask nodded. "Well, I was just telling Tropy here that if the truth serum doesn't succeed, then we could use Crash's sister in order to get the truth out of him about him and Crash."

"Woah, woah, are you suggesting that we use Coco...as a pawn?" Uka Uka had a hunch that if he replaced Cortex with N Tropy, he would be seeing entirly different results, but the mask never imagined a good plan would come from N Gin. The witch doctor liked where this was going: using Coco to their advantage in this metaphorical game of chess they were playing. "I love it you guys! Now I'm really glad Cortex quit! Guys, put conquering the islands as number two on our to do list, you and N Gin have got a new mission."

"Thank you for agreeing with my plan oh great Uka Uka." N Gin praised, clicking his heels together.

"See guys, if you want something done right, you listen the person who only has half a brain, I mean a good idea can come from there sometimes." Uka Uka knew that wasn't the saying, but he figured that N Gin would enjoy his moment in the sun. Tropy and N Gin straightened themselves up and gave a salute to their boss. "Alright, I'm gonna go see how Brio's coming along with that serum, while you guys pay a little visit to the Bandicoot residance. But nobody say one word to Cortex if he gets back here before we do. Keep this on the down low."

Uka Uka and Tropy glanced at each other and nodded and then to N Gin who was starting to hum some of the songs off of the playlist, a smile beginning to form on his face. "N Gin!" They both snapped.

Of all the people who could be a wrench in their plan, N Gin was by far the only one who could let something slip out from his lips.

He shuffled his feet before looking down in embarrassment. He had to remember that this was a serious matter. N Tropy grabbed him by the collar, and started dragging him out the door to where their enemies lived, while Uka Uka headed down to see how Brio was managing. "I'm sorry master!" The cyborg shouted as Tropy closed the door behind them.

* * *

Cortex and Nina had started the ride back to the shelter. On the way there, Cortex had to admit, he was glad that Nina and Coco (mainly Coco) had pointed him tword Dr. Jacobson. _'I cannot beleive that I'm actually going to turn my life around and try to be a better person. But how am I going to befriend Crash, the very bandicoot I've tried numerous times to eliminate? Maybe there's something in the book that could help.'_ Just then, he remembered the first time he was walking down the hall to the therapists office, and what he had been thinking of. _'Nina and Coco are going to be in so much trouble when I'm through with them.'_ Cortex didn't know how she would react if he told her...

Then again he had been honest with her so far, so why not now? Why did Dr. Jacobson have to be a good therapist?

"Nina?"

"Yes?"

"Nina, do you remember me groaning as I took Eric's card from Coco?"

The girl nodded, "Yes, and when I heard that, I got the sense that you weren't too thrilled about starting therapy. What's up?"

Her uncle thought very carefully as to how he was going to say this, for Cortex didn't want to frighten Nina, "Well, you see...the truth is; the first time we were with Dr. Jacobson and heading tword his office, I actually was thinking about wanting to punish you for siding with Coco, and naturally I was trying to sum up one while in therapy." Cortex admitted.

Nina gasped a little, "Um, what kind of punishment were you thinking of?" She bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. There was a look of panic in her eyes.

"I was thinking of sending you Madem Amberly's but..." Cortex could feel the rest of her body shaking behind him as she held onto her uncle. He could only sense fear, he knew that that answer was not the one she was hoping for. He felt uneasy soon after admitting that, "Well, I'm not going to do that. I need you here by my side, the only family love I get is from you, I'm not sure mother ever felt that way about me." An idea soon worked it's way into his brain, before a smirk worked it's way onto his face. "Come on Nina, let's go pay a little visit to Moulin Cortex, and then maybe get you unenrolled from Madem Amberly's." Turning his hoverboard around in midair, Nina and Cortex set off back tword the mountains.

 _'Unenrolled at Madem Amberly's? Aww, he does care about me, and I really don't want to go back there.'_ The goth girl breathed in a sigh of relief. _'I'm never going to leave him.'_ This was one of the nicest things that Neo had ever done for her. "You did say that you needed me by your side." A squeal of pure happiness escaped her mouth, and Nina hugged him from behind. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She nuzzled against Cortex, for she couldn't have been more greatful. "And also, what's that book Eric gave you?" The girl tried to sneek a little peek at the title but being shorter than him and despite trying to stand on her tip toes, Nina just couldn't see. Her curiosity had started to build up.

Cortex gulped as he gripped the spine of Dr. Jacobsons book tighter, his teeth beginning to clench. "It's Eric's self published book; Is It Hate, Love, Or Something Much Deeper? Um, Nina I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise not to judge me on it. Alright?" He knew he could trust his neice one hundred percent.

"Alright, what do you wanna tell me?" Nina could only imagine it was something else to do with their family.

"First off, you didn't happen to hear anything from when you were waiting outside the office for me did you?"

Nina thumbed her chin with one finger, "No, not that I recall, the only thing I heard was you calling for me."

This was perfect, Cortex could slowly ease into this new situation to break it down piece by piece for his caring neice. "Well you see Nina, the therapist had a little theory after what I told him about me and Crash in my nightmare. Dr. Jacobson thinks that..well..." The words and his breath caught in his throat. Cortex's mind was trying to tell his mouth not to say anything and let his love for Crash slip out. It was like the devil was trying to keep his feelings inside.

"You know what I'll say." The angel whispered in his ear. "Be honest."

"Don't you say it! Don't you dare say it! Feelings on a guy are like elbows on a fish. It's just not meant to be, do you understand?! Sit on and swallow your feelings until you die, then bury them with you!" The devil hissed, the evil side of his conscience practically had venom in his voice.

"If you don't wanna tell me, that's fine." Given everything that had already happened in therapy, Nina thought he would tell her when he was ready. "Because of what you told me earlier about our family being a bunch of clowns..."

Cortex cut her off as they approached the mountains and his lab. He landed his hoverboard and then quickly spun around, to look Nina right in the eyes, "No, I want to, I mean you have a right to know. Eric already knows, he had his suspicions, and he didn't tell you when you came back into the room." The scientist took a deep breath and opened his mouth as his devil self facepalmed himself in the forehead. "He thinks that...that..." His little angel slapped him on the back of the head to force him to finish that thought. "He thinks that I'm in love with Crash!" Cortex immediatly clamped one free hand over his mouth after blurting out the truth. Adrenaline then surged through the scientist and he felt like he had just ran a marathon.

"You may as well just dig a hole a.k.a your own grave, curl up in it and die cause there's no taking that sentence back now. You've made your bed, now you gotta lie in it." The devil rubbed his hands and pointed his pitchfork upward right underneath Cortex's chin, causing him to gulp with fear. "How dare you?!"

The neice of Dr. Cortex had to repeat what she had just heard over again in her head. Nina thought she would have to clean out her ears and hear that again. Did Neo really just say that out loud or was she hearing things? The only thing that her mouth was capable of saying was, "What?" Cause Nina was at a loss for words.

"You heard me, Dr. Jacobson thinks that I'm in love with Crash." Her uncles stomachache returned in a flash after he repeated his statement. He thought he was going to throw up. Cortex wasn't used to feeling his own feelings. This was all new territory for him.

The goth girls eyes widened, Nina then folded one arm over her chest, tapped her chin with one finger and cautiously asked, "Well, judging by your nightmare and the fact you thought you were hugging him when we first teleported to the 10th dimension...are you?"

Cortex felt heat rush to his face, his cheeks starting to turn a pale shade of red, "Well, I...I guess I am." Cortex reached his free hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know why I'm feeling this way about him. Maybe it's because of when the twins came here, I turned to him for help, and then that caused us to team up. After that incident with them and when we destroyed their deathbot, I think I started to realize that maybe I should've thanked Crash instead of trying to eliminate him. I do have some faith in him. I seek comfort from him, I carry a photo of him with me everywhere I go. Both my brain and my heart, and I didn't think I even had one of those, are totally confused. So now you know, but just don't tell anyone. Alright?" The devil just hung his head while his angel self clasped his hands together and smiled.

"Alright, I won't tell. And since this is a lot to take in, I'll process and try to ponder all this while we're at the club where your mother works and also at the academy."

Cortex snapped back into reality after that sentence. "Right, I totally forgot about that." He pointed dramatically tword the sky and shouted, "Let's go. Back to my airship and then to see mother!" The two Cortex's packed it up and headed tword the summit of the mountain.

It was time to set a course back to Moulin Cortex. Neo could only imagine how Natalie would react when she saw them. He knew that she would probably be thrilled with Nina, now Neo himself after what he had done to their family years ago?

That was a whole different story...

* * *

Coco threw the ball one last time and after Pura brought it back, she sat down on the single concrete step that led back into the house. Pura knew that their happy game of fetch had come to an end. As for the rest of the family, knowing that Coco was good: Crash currently was down by the beach napping under a plam tree, Aku Aku was inside, floating in front of the fireplace relaxing with a little meditation, and Crunch was doing the daily chores.

"That was fun. I'm sorry if I've worried everybody, especially you." Coco said. Picking up the ball in her mouth, the tiger laid down on her back in front of Coco and stretched out. "Aww, want me to rub your tummy?" Pura's tail wagged back and forth, much like a dogs when they got excited. The female bandicoot happily rubbed the cub on her tummy, making Pura release a content and satisfied purr. _'I'm glad you and everyone else are concerned about me.'_ Coco thought. _'I mean the breakfast from Crunch, the concern from Pura and our family pets, Crash trying to cheer me up in the only way he knows how.'_ She reached her hand up and felt the flower in her hair. _'They're both good big brothers, I'm glad I have two.'_

Coco almost jumped out of her skin when Pura hopped up and started to growl. Looking in front of her, she saw N Tropy in the distance along with N Gin who was still being dragged by the collar of his coat. He slapped the time masters hand off of him as the two got closer to the Bandicoots house, "I can walk myself thank you very much!" N Gin said, feeling sightly aggravated by the fact that he had to be drug out of the castle by force.

Hopping up in an instant, Coco got herself into a defensive position, ready to karate chop N Gin right in the neck, since she knew he didn't have a weapon. "What are you guys doing here?!" She snarled.

N Tropy cleared his throat and raised his hand, "Relax Coco, we're not here looking for trouble. We're here to tell you something." He explained.

"Hee, hee, hee, it's true, we come here speaking the truth. It's about Cortex and Crash. We need your help in ringing the truth out of Cortex, cause we discovered something shocking about him." N Gin added on.

"Yeah, turns out that Cortex doesn't exactly hate Crash."

Coco still kept her arms out in front of her, with her hands clenched together as fists, ready to strike both N Team members down if they tried anything. She was skilled in every form of karate and martial arts. Her time in the Cortex Vortex with all the fighting movies Brio had her watch one decade ago had taught her that she had to be ready for anything at any time in case she needed to quickly defend herself.

"What are you saying?! Of course Cortex hates Crash, why do you think me and Nina sent them to start therapy?!"

"Well, we heard that you want to kill him." Tropy stated. "And we know that he dressed up like you. In which I think we're all still creeped out by that, but what we uncovered is he's actually obsessed over Crash." Coco couldn't beleive what these two were telling her. Did they really speak the truth, or was this all a trick?

N Gin brought out the flashdrive, "Contained on this drive is a top secret playlist created by Cortex himself, but it's not what you'd expect from him." The cyborg carefully looked at the brainiac bandicoot. "What's on here and what we discovered kind of have to be seen and listened to in order to be beleived." He held it out in front of him, persuading Coco to take it.

Very carefully, she took it in her hand before she raised an eyebrow and announced her suspicions, "Are you two really telling the truth or is this all just a trick and part of yet another diabolical plan to destroy our precious island home?" Coco was less gullible than Crash was.

"No trick, no lie, we're telling you the solid truth here. When it comes to honesty, I'm one hundred percent truthful, I don't tolerate lying, and after observing what just occurred, neither do you." N Tropy could sense that Coco was a bandicoot who wanted honesty as well as the truth. "If you come see what we've told you about, then you can help us to get the truth out of Cortex. How about it?"

Coco took a minute to think about that. "Well, I don't know."

"Afterward, you could take your revenge on Cortex for impersonating you and tricking Crash?"

That caught the female bandicoots attention in a snap. "Let's go." Coco took a minute and frantically looked around her to make sure her brothers and Aku Aku weren't in sight anywhere. To her releif, they weren't.

Coco, N Tropy, and N Gin then made a break for the castle.


	14. Dramatic  Tension  On The Rise

Crunch wiped down the food covered dishes and thoroughly scrubbed them. After rinsing them off, the bandicoot picked up a clean glass. His own reflection gazed back at him. "Ah, there we go, nice and clean." The eldest of the Bandicoot siblings was getting the daily chores done. As for everyone else in the family; Crash was down by the sandy beach napping under a palm tree (no surprise there he hadn't moved in hours), Aku Aku was still in front of the fireplace meditating, and their pets/furry riding companions, were outside catching some rays of sunshine while playfully bouncing up and down.

All except a certain tiger that was.

Pura was running around in circles meowing loudly like there was no tomorrow. She wasn't going to take a chance by following Coco, and she was the only one that knew who Coco headed off with.

Polar and Baby T looked up from where they were playfully wrestling each other, and gave a worried look to her. If the tiger cub could speak, then she would call everyone to her by name. For now, she had to settle for loud meowing, hoping to draw the attention of their owners. The other two ran back inside through a pet door built into the regular one on the house. The pet duo then made a beeline for Crunch.

He looked down when he felt the two pawing and clawing at his legs. He heard them whimper. "Hey you two, what's up?" Crunch asked, a look of worry presenting itself in his eyes as he started getting concerned for them. Baby T and Polar sprinted tword the front door and exited out the one they had used to get into the house moments ago. As the part cyborg bandicoot inched his way closer and closer to the door, he started to feel uneasy. 'Ive got a bad feeling about this...' Opening the door, Crunch followed them out. His eyes widened when he saw that his sister was nowhere in sight. "Coco?" He called. Nobody answered. "Coco?!" Crunch started to shake with fear, where could she have gone? He sprinted back inside to Aku Aku.

* * *

N Brio, who was now donning a pair of safety goggles (just in case something exploded), was hunched over his work bench, scraping a fine white powder into the beaker of liquid. "Ok, that parts done, those guys have no idea how delicate and complicated chemistry really is. New potions and serums weren't brewed and created within five minutes oh no, sometimes it takes weeks, or even months!" Picking up a small wooden stir stick, Brio stirred the two things together. The result was a fizzy reaction, just like what was written in the book. He was doing this right.

"Brio?" Uka Uka asked, floating into the room. He wanted the truth out of Cortex as soon as possible. The sooner the team had Brio's mixture, the sooner some anwsers would surely be revealed.

The chemist slammed his fist down onto the table and snapped. N Brio hated interruptions, "A potion takes time to create and to brew you guys! Same with learning how the process works! Do you think this kind of stuff appears in an instant?! Or with just a quick snap of your finger?! No it doesn't!" He shouted. Removing the goggles and whipping around quickly, the chemist came face to face with an angered witch doctor mask. His anger immediatly subsided and was replaced by a look of shock. "Oh, hello."

Uka Uka released a low growl. He could very well tell from that outburst that N Brio was still slightly tense. "Ok, for now, I'm going to ignore that little tantrum of yours. How's the serum coming along?"

"Oh, it's coming, if I just follow the step by step procedure from this handy dandy guide book, we should be good." Brio then carefully looked back over the procedure one step at a time, double checking to see if he missed anything. He didn't, the plan was coming together.

"Good. That's exactly what I was hoping to hear...Wait, did you say you were using a guide book?" Brio nodded, and Uka Uka nearly groaned in surprise. "Actually your truth serum is now going to be an alternative plan to extracting the truth out of Cortex, since a different method has now been thrown into the mix." Uka Uka was thinking about leaving Brio out of the team plan but now he was having second thoughts.

"Really, so what's the subsitute in the plan? A threat? A bribe? Not that I would ever stoop to that level you understand." Those were the only two things that N Brio could think of. He was unaware of their _'secret weapon'_. One that he had actually created. Years ago.

"Actually no, it's nether of those two things." The mask replied. "N Gin and N Tropy went to get it." Uka Uka gave an evil grin at Brio who raised an eyebrow.

_'What in all the islands does he have in mind...'_

* * *

Moulin Cortex

Sitting on the slope of the mountains, it was small and quaint. It was not exactly the hippest place on all the islands, but it was a club favored by multiple species of the female category. Mainly by the Nitro Squad when they needed a girl's night out (and on some nights they even performed there.) However, it did have its fair share of male customers, with some being employed there. The place was a hangout, a club, and was also the only one on the entire archipelo group of islands.

Nina looked down in awe, as her and Cortex slid down the rope latter of Cortex's airship and hopped off in front of the club. Cortex had decided to take his private dirigible here instead of trudging through the snow, and also so they didn't have to track all the way back to the lab when they were done. They could just fly straight to Madam Amberly's. "So this is where your mother works? Neat." Nina smiled as they approached the entrance and headed inside. Nina was excited to finally meet someone else in the Cortex family.

"Now where is she?" Cortex wondered.

A low growl was soon heard from a booth near the entrance, "Oi mate what are you doing here? And who are you looking for?" A deep Australian accent asked. Cortex gulped with fear, he knew that accent from a mile away. He whipped around only to come face to face with a dingo/crocodile hybrid, wielding a flamethrower that was pointed right between the scientists eyes.

"Meep!" Cortex squeaked, swallowing heavily as he started turning pale, while his knees turned to jelly. They threatened to buckle beneath him. Cortex knew that Dingodile still had a bone to pick after him and Crash had destroyed his house on their way down the mountain to N Gin's ship. "Dingodile, what's up? You work here?" He asked, a tremble in his voice.

"No I don't, Pinstripe and the Kamodo Brothers do however. A lot of us were hired by the owner here and offered a part time job. And if your curious, we haven't abandonded you...yet, but we just sometimes need a break from you and Uka Uka. Then we discovered this place. Moe and Joe are the cook and bartender here, while Pinstripe's the part time security guard. Another part time job for him is he works in a suit store. That potoroo has more than just one occupation working under you. And you don't wanna come in between him and his gun that almost never leaves his hands. Not sure about everyone else though. And don't give me that 'what's up?' after what you did to my house Cortex!" Dingodile could easily incinerate his master right here and now. Grabbing him by the neck of his coat, he lifted Cortex off the ground. "You and Crash are both gonna get it! I outta fry you right now mate!"

"You let my uncle go right this instant!" Nina yelled. She didn't want to see him incinerated and killed. Nina would do anything to protect him.

"Stay out of this Nina! This doesn't concern you!" The hybrid snapped a finger and Pinstripe looked up from where he was sitting, having a drink of sparkling Wumpa Juice. Grabbing up his trusty tommy gun, the gangster waltzed over and aimed it right under the scientists chin.

"Yeah doctor, thanks to your failed creation, that bandicoot left scars and battle wounds on every member of the Cortex Commandos! We're currently staying here because our current place is still rubble. It's warm and there's food. Plus we don't have to hear you or Uka Uka's constant bickering back and forth. Also, if you think you're getting out of here in tact after we've all endured getting beat, fugettabout it." The potoroo responded as he cocked his weapon. "You've got another thing coming! And plus, since Crash isn't here, someone's gotta pay."

"Please! Have mercy on me you guys! I quit working under Uka Uka! Look Dingodile, I'm sorry about your house, but me and Crash got into a little tussle on our way down the slope to N Gin's battleship. That bandicoot used me as a human snowboard! I'm trying to change here! And Coco already wants to hurt me. I don't need you guys too." Cortex really wished Crash were here right now. Everything they went through together pretty much made them an unstoppable duo. He hated to admit it, but he enjoyed working on the side of good with Crash. He felt that for once in his life he was actually winning at something.

Nina raised her arms up, ready to save her uncle with her spring loaded hands, when a woman's voice suddenly cut through the air, stopping that action, "Wait a minute, did you say Cortex? I recognize that name." Both Nina and Neo, along with some other members of the Cortex Commandos turned their heads around from where they were sitting and looked up. A woman then came out of the back room with a serving tray and a bunch of drinks. She had the same black hair as both Cortex's that was pulled back into a long, neat ponytail.

Natalie Cortex, the owner and bartender of the establishment, who had worked out a deal with Tawna, the Nitro Squad, and some of her son's own minions.

Natalie's eyes widened when she saw Neo. Smirking, she put a hand on her hip and flipped her hair back after sitting her tray down. She finished serving the Nitro Squad, (who were currently taking a break from performing)before collecting the tip, which was a fair amount of Wumpa Coins that Ami handed her, before facing a familiar family member. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the disappointment of a son who fractured our family." He looked back at her and simply whimpered. Her brown eyes fixed a cold stare at Dingodile. "Put him down, right now!" She then cracked her knuckles and shook out her hands. "I'll take care of this."

Both minions growled and Dingodile roughly dropped (almost throwing) his master to the ground, "You got lucky your mommy's here to save you, but we won't forget this." The dingo hybrid and potoroo then retreated over to the bar area to have a snack and a drink.

Cortex got the feeling that all his minions were still peeved at him and Crash since their last encounter, and also there was the obvious reason that they were going to take their anger out on him. A little payback for getting beat by the brainless bandicoot in the past. He could also sense that his mother was more or less holding her own little grudge against him.

Coughing and hauling himself back to his feet, the scientist faced his mother. Her icy glare threatening to pierce right through him, "Hello mother." Neo just gave a nervous wave as he pulled out a stool and sat down. _'I can already tell that this probably isn't going to be an easy visit.'_ He thought. _'But I'll do this for Nina.'_

She wagged a finger at him, "Don't you 'hello mother' me mister." Neo was right, it was a grudge. "After what you did to our family, you've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here. And I thought I heard your voice earlier but it was just for a breif second." Natalie then snapped her finger, "Moe! Joe! Two sparkling drinks over here pronto!"

"Whatever you sssay. Coming right up." Joe hissed as he wiped down the counter and noticed Cortex. "Dr. Cortex, what bringsss you here?" Moe, who was slicing up various fruits to put on the rims of their glasses, looked up from his work when he heard that name.

"I'm only here to see mother, and also trying not to get killed before I get out of here." The pair of Kamodo Dragons just hissed at the man, before sliding two drinks down the smooth surface of the countertop tword Natalie and her son.

Natalie grasped one, while Neo hesitantly took the other in hand. "So, why are you here?" She wondered as she looked him up and down from head to toe, taking in his current attire. "And why are dressed like a barber?"

That was the second time that Cortex had heard that comment, with Madem Amberly being the first. 'How do some people not get that I'm an evil scientist?' He rubbed his head in irritation before commenting, "I'm an evil scientist mother. And I brought someone with me who I think you'll like." He gestured his neice over. "This is my neice. Not sure if you would remember her though?"

Nina cleared her throat and stepped forward, "Hello there. I'm Nina." She greeted, before pulling up a stool and taking a seat next to the family.

Natalie carefully looked the girl up and down as she sipped her drink. "Hello. Hm now that you mention it Neo, I think I do recall one member of our family who had a kid. That was probably Nina. She does look like one of us Cortex's; same black hair, same eyes, but unfortunately not a clown. That gene apparently skipped two generations. Though you are quite adorable." She reached her hand out and ruffled her hair.

"Why thank you." Nina smiled as she bounced up and down. She was liking Cortex's mother already. Looking up, Moe sat a glass of regular juice in front of her. Nodding, she took it in hand.

"Now as for you son..." Natalie then raised her hand and harshly slapped Neo across the face, knocking him and the drink he was holding straight down onto the ground. It sent Nina into a state of shock, that she almost choked on her beverage, as her uncles glass shattered and splintered into shards from the hard impact. Cortex thought he heard his bones cracking, as the wind was knocked right out of his body.

* * *

As they headed back to the N Teams shelter, Coco couldn't even begin to imagine what she could be getting (or rather walking) into. Coco remembered seeing Pura shaking as her owner headed off with their enemies. Twiddling her fingers nervously, she thought she might try to see what information she could get out of them right away, "So this ringing the truth out of Cortex? Is this tied to that little obsession you guys mentioned?"

"Yes, and it's not exactly a "little" obsession." Tropy spoke.

Coco looked over her shoulder at N Gin who was happily skipping along behind them. "The flashdrive you've got, is only part one." The cyborg informed, catching her up to speed.

The bandicoot girls green eyes widened in shock as she saw the "castle". "Woah, this where you guys live now? This the "temporary" shelter that Uka Uka spoke of?" Coco wondered as they headed inside.

Tropy sadly sighed as him and N Gin exchanged a look, "Yeah, your first older brother did quite a number on the teams former base of operation. Uka Uka is still mad about that but to the rest of us, it's not so bad. Since Dr. Cortex's lab assistants are still on the verge of reconstructing Cortex Castle back to its former glory, we had to fashion this ourselves. It was quite a long process for just a temporary living space. We're not cut out for manual labor, this is why villians have minions." The trio headed into the parlor. But didn't see anyone in sight. "Uka Uka we're back!" The time master shouted.

"And we brought someone with us!" N Gin called. Coco could only imagine why she was here. How could she possibly help the N Team in getting a truth out of Cortex?

Brio's ears pricked up when he heard N Tropy's voice. "Where have they been?" He asked. "And who's here?"

"Oh, the alternative to your truth serum is actually something you created." That put a smile on N Brio's face as Uka Uka floated out of the room to meet the group. Brio set his experiment aside and trailed up the stairs behind him.

"Alright, now we're ready for Cortex when he returns." Tropy paused right after he said that. "That is if he's not back here already." Looking up, he saw his boss enter the room with the chemist bringing up the rear. "Cortex isn't back here yet, is he?" N Tropy questioned. The mask shook himself back and forth no before training his eyes on Coco. "Perfect."

"Coco, just the bandicoot we were hoping to come." Uka Uka replied.

She just about scoffed at that greeting. "Yeah, N Tropy and N Gin got me all caught up about what's happening. So how exactly do you need me to help you in carrying out this plan? And what's up with Cortex not hating Crash? Cause I still don't beleive that." The girl was shocked that she was asking such questions. And to their enemies no less. Just yesterday, Cortex wanted to jump Crash and kill him, and she wanted to retaliate by sluggng him in the face. Coco decided to just get this over with so she could get back to her brothers, who were probably getting worried about her. "N Gin said there was something here I had to see?"

Uka Uka nodded. Brio stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Hello Coco, I wasn't expecting to see you here. Yeah, about Dr. Cortex, the thing is, he's been acting a little weird. I had a theory about him and your brother after I saw him pull out a photo of him. And I was totally right." He started to dance again.

"Brio! This is serious, this is no time for your victory dance!" Uka Uka screamed.

Brio put a lid on his little celebration and started up the stairs along with everyone else. He then quickly spun around to face Coco. "You wanna know the truth? Follow us." Coco didn't know what she would see. Very carefully she followed behind the N Team. Taking a deep breath, she mentally tried to prepare herself for what she was about to discover.

They came to a stop in front of Cortex's door.

'What could Cortex have done that these guys have to show me?' The N Team and Uka Uka opened the door up and gestured for her to go first. After hesitating for a moment, the girls feet started moving her forward. "What am I looking for?"

Tropy pointed his tuning fork in the direction of the tarp. "Inside a cubby hole, hidden underneath that tarp above Cortex's bed. Be warned, you can not unsee this."

Coco aided the time masters warnings, but quickened her pace. Climbing up onto the bed to reach it, she started to extended her arm out, pausing briefly to look back at the N Team. Everyone nodded. The girl lashed her hand out, yanked the cloth off, and the shrine was revealed once more. Her eyes rapidly darted back and forth between everything in the small space. Coco wanted to faint at the sight of all the photos. "Crash?" With a frightened gasp, Coco fell backwards and scrabbled back tword the team, hitting her head on the foot of the bed as she did. Hopping off onto the floor, she stood there trembling. "What is this? It's like a horror show of my brother." Coco paused momentarily to try to get a clear view of the situation. "So he doesn't hate him?" Her rage started to bubble back up

"I warned you." N Tropy said. "But you didn't beleive us."

"Beleive us now?" N Gin asked.

"I do." Coco then growled. "That... that." She was trying to contain her anger, but since Aku Aku wasn't here to tell her otherwise, Coco could let her outbursts fly.

"Say it. You know you want to." Uka Uka urged.

"That lying little, no good weasel!" She screamed.

"Feel better after saying that!?"

"Yeah I do. Alright you guys, you've got yourself a deal. I'll help you out." Extending their hands out, Coco and the N Team shook on it.

A deal had been made.


	15. Whose Side Are You On?

Coco's knees started to buckle beneath her but she managed to stop herself from going down to the floor. She couldn't beleive what she had just done, it felt like it all happened too quickly. Did she really just shake hands and make a deal with the N Team? Her familys worst enemies and the biggest threat to their island home? Of course, the more she thought it over in her head, the more Coco knew that she wanted to do this. This did involve plotting her revenge on Cortex after all.

Coco had always thought of Cortex as more of a lower, bottemdwelling species rather than a human. She had thought that he came from underneath a rock.

Soon the girl started to think of what she could potentially do to the scientist as payback, now that she knew the truth about him and Crash. Coco never imagined that Cortex would ever develop a heart or even other feelings rather than anger, stress and fear. And for Crash no less, the very bandicoot that he had tried numerous times to eliminate. Pretty soon she came to realize that she didn't want to tell her brothers or Aku Aku about what she had been doing. The girl hated lying but what else could she do? "So what's with the whole 'shrine to my brother' deal Cortex has got going on?" She wondered, gripping the flashdrive tighter as she tried to decipher what N Gin meant when he said "top secret playlist". Coco knew that it must be songs (hence the word 'playlist') but what kind? She had yet to figure that part out. She would ask at some point.

"Apparently, Dr. Cortex has been obsessed over Crash for quite a while. Did you see some of those photos he took of him?" Brio asked. Coco briefly remembered seeing pictures of Crash but she was too in shock at the time to really notice and get a good look. Now that some of the female bandicoots tension had mellowed out and she could start to think clearly again, she decided to do some observing. "You're not going to like what you see."

Backtracking over to the cubby, she picked up the small stack of pictures, her facial expressions transitioning between anger, shock, horror and disgust as she flipped through and carefully observed each one. "What is...?" Coco instantly trailed off that sentence when she saw the two photos taken with the nightvision lens. "Oh my gosh, he's a stalker! And how come we've never heard anything in the middle of the night?!" Coco screamed. She wanted to tear each photo into a million pieces and then proceed to do the same with Cortex. She wanted to then rip the shrine apart, piece by piece and then burn it using the candles, cackling evily as she did it.

Even though Coco knew violence was not the answer, (as explained by Aku Aku yesterday) this discovery about Cortex was slowly starting to chip away at what was currently left of her calm demeanor. She could only imagine what Uka Uka and the others must have thought when they saw this little setup.

"That's pretty much the same reaction we had, glad we're all on the same page here." Uka Uka said. "See? We told you that you could not unsee this."

Tropy then handed her the list. Raising an eyebrow after taking it in hand, Coco asked. "What's this now?"

"A little pro/con list Cortex made about Crash." All of these statements pretty much sum up that bandicoot hero." The time master replied. After unfolding it, it only took five seconds for Coco to start getting worked up again. "We thought he hated Crash cause he was a "failed creation"? But no, apparently there's more pros than cons on this list. Brio believed that Cortex only said he didn't have a plan to beat him because well obviously, he doesn't completely despise him."

N Gin chimed in with a comment of his own, "We've theorized already that even though Cortex says he hates him we all know he really doesn't. He just didn't want us to know the truth."

"Hey! I said that, that was MY theory!" Brio snapped, pointing an accusing finger tword the cyborg. "Don't steal credit for my idea!"

After clearing her throat and silently reading the list to herself, since she knew the team had already gone through it, the female bandicoots eyes blazed with fire and fury just after reading each pro.

"Sweet as can be? Happy toothy grin that never changes?" Soon after (not even bothering to look at the con side), Coco started drumming up potential ideas for revenge, ' _Cortex, you are so going to pay! Hm, now what's the perfect plan of revenge for what you did? Do I kill you in your sleep? Do I bury you alive? So many devious options. Ha, ha, ha!'_ Coco's curiosity soon got the better of her, reducing her anger as she wondered what the N Team had in mind. Coco handed the list back. As she did, she figured that it probably wouldn't hurt to ask, "So, do you guys actually have a plan in mind to ring the truth out of him? Or am just going to have to ring his neck, period?" She wondered as she proceeded to shake out her hands and take some relaxing breaths to try and releive some anger.

N Gin had to move a hand up to cover his mouth to muffle a laugh at that question. Just picturing that made him want to laugh so hard until his sides hurt. The cyborg imagined Cortex's eyes rolling around in circles as Coco throttled him. "That's one way to do it."

"Ok, as much as we'd love to see that, N Brio here did have something a little less violent in mind." N Tropy said before his tone became more serious. "Right?"

Brio snarled at his colleague and then looked at Uka Uka who nodded, before informing Coco about their plan, "Yes, I do, something a little tamer in mind. Coco, we mainly just wanted to see your reaction to the shrine. You're actually the alternate to the little truth serum I've developed using a step by step process from a book. I had just finished it up before you arrived. Of course, N Tropy here had his doubts about it, he didn't think I could manage it. When it comes to a truth serum, I don't think anyone is capable of lying." The chemist paused briefly to thumb his chin, "Then again, you're the brainiac bandicoot, what do you think we should do if you can't manage this? Truth serum or the good old fashioned lie detector? If you had to pick one or the other, which one would you choose?"

Uka Uka looked back and forth between the team and Coco. Everyone was shocked. It was like their fate was resting in her hands. Was Coco secretly betraying her own family and Crash? All because of Cortex's obsession over him?

An invisible blanket of scilence soon covered the girl, "Hm...you know, that's a good question? I honestly don't know." Coco admitted as she scratched her head and adjusted the flower behind her ear. "I say go with the serum, I mean how accurate can a lie detector really be?" After thinking that statement through very carefully, the N Team couldn't argue with logic like that.

"That's a good point, I knew there was a reason you were the "smart one" of the Bandicoot family. I did a good job by making you watch all those science shows years ago in the vortex. I just knew you'd make the right decision. But in our quest to extract the truth out of Cortex, after hearing that you wanted to hit him, I beleive if he gets just one glance at you, he'll be unable to lie and the serum will finish the job." Brio predicted.

Coco was both stunned and intrigued at the same time, "And if I get one look at him I'll just want to slug him, which will also cause him to tell us the truth, since when I threatened to hit him yesterday, he was begging for his life. Alright, I'll admit it, you do make an excellent point. You're good Brio but I never thought you were this good. Wow, there's a sentence I'd never thought I'd say."

"Two methods in one, feels good." Uka Uka responded. "This is why we always want to have a backup plan."

"Why thank you Coco." N Brio patted himself on the back. "I just knew you'd make the right decision. Lacing his fingers together he stretched himself out, reaching up above his head and then bending backwards slightly. Being hunched over his work station for a few hours had taken it's toll on his back. "Well, now I think we just have to wait until Cortex gets back here."

Coco hesitated for a breif moment before asking another question, "Can't beleive I'm about to ask this but where is Cortex anyway?"

The N Team shrugged their shoulders,"We don't even know, he said he needed to step out of here and clear his head. Says his brains been cluttered lately. We don't know where he headed off to, we're just awaiting his return."

The bandicoot didn't even want to imagine what went through Cortex's head throughout the day. "Alright, not going to go any further there." Heading back down to the parlor, Coco plopped down and took a seat on the bottom of the stairs, her mind buzzing with all this new information in her head. "I'm glad I saw all this. You guys were right, I can't beleive that Cortex doesn't hate my first older brother. That and the fact that I'm now working with you guys to get more information out of him."

"There is an old saying, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'." N Gin explained.

The young bandicoot did remember hearing that from Dr. Jacobson when her and Nina went to visit him for the first time. First visit to his office, the therapist had informed them about that expression after Coco had explained Cortex's rivalry with Crash. "I already know about that expression. It's totally accurate right now." Coco then looked to N Gin and presented her earlier thought about the drive in her hands. "N Gin?" The cyborg gazed at her and nodded, telling her to proceed. "N Gin, what did you mean when you said that this playlist was not what I would expect from Cortex?"

"Well, you see it's... hold that thought..."N Gin dashed back up to his room and came back down seconds later with the headphones in his grasp. "By any chance do you have your laptop on you?"

Coco cocked her head, confused by the question, "Yeah I do...what are you...oh you want me to analyze the list for myself?" She wondered, getting her computer out. Tropy and Gin said nothing but kept their gaze on her. "Alright, I'll take a listen." Coco inserted the drive and took the headphones from the cyborg. Plugging them in, she clicked on the file and very carefully listened.

Scilence hit everyone like a wave as Coco went through each song. After about ten minutes, they spoke, "Notice anything about each song so far?" N Gin asked.

"They're all songs centered around love?"She guessed. The scientist nodded. "Oh my word. So judging by the shrine and this music list, are you saying that Cortex is in love with Crash?" Coco got the same gesture from everyone. "What?! I am so going to kill him now! And I just had a realization while listening."

The team members looked at one another, "Which is...?"

"How are you guys going to get Cortex to drink that little serum?"

Luckily for Coco, N Tropy had already thought ahead. "I'm one step ahead of you. N Gin?" The cyborg pricked his head up. "N Gin go prepare lunch for the master and slip the serum into his drink. Make the food spicy and hot, there's gotta be something you can find." Jumping up, N Gin sprinted straight to the kitchen, leaving Coco shocked, her eyes wide. "We know that Neo isn't big on spice. One bite and then he'll go for the Wumpa Fruit juice to cool it down, pretty soon, we'll have our anwsers. He has no clue as to what we're up to but he's probably starting to get suspicious of us."

"Well, that anwsers my question. I guess we're partners in crime now." A smirk soon played about the girls lips and soon after it had formed, maniacal laughter was released between Coco and the N Team. "Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

* * *

"Uncle Neo! Are you alright?!" Nina shouted, hopping down onto the floor and picking him up.

"Yeah, just in pain...again." Cortex rubbed his cheek carefully, that slap really hurt. "Come on, just over the past two days I've been: stabbed, shoved, threatened, frightened, almost killed and now, slapped by my own mother!" He felt dazed and his eyes could only see the room spinning around him after that action by his mother. Neo figured she would have it out for him but he didn't think it would be this bad. His mind was swimming and his thoughts, as well as his brain were rattling around in his head, "Nina I think you, Crash and Dr. Jacobson are among the only people who don't completely hate me." Neo admitted. "Oh wait a minute, I forgot about Tiny."

"I would agree with that list." Once Nina got him to his feet and helped him back onto the stool he was sitting on so he could refocus his vision, she whipped around to face Natalie. Feeling just slightly irritated by that action. "What was that?! That was totally uncalled for!"

Natalie let out a slight chuckle to that response, "Really? Cause, personally, I think he actually deserved it for what he did." She didn't know if Nina already knew. "Did he tell you about our clown family?"

"Yes, he did. Our history and the explosion. And do you even feel any guilt at all, considering the fact you basically traumatized him right when he was born?" Turning her head slightly to the left, she saw her uncle laying on his side, hugging the barstool and shaking. It hurt just to talk about it. The one simple word 'clown' was enough to trigger those nightmarish flashbacks and bring him to tears. "I mean just look at what happens to him when he even thinks about it."

Neo was glad Nina was defending him. "Please, I don't wanna relive those horrible memories again! Once with Dr. Jacobson was enough thank you very much." He begged. He then jumped down onto the floor and looked his mother right in the eye, glaring at her, just as he had done with Uka Uka, "It's called the past for a reason mother. And you never cared about what I wanted! I never wanted to be a clown! But no, all you and the family ever cared about was the spotlight! You and everyone else made fun of me for years, never once thinking about how it all effected me!"

"Yeah, well, that's what the rest of us were in shock about Neo. We just could never piece together why you didn't want to entertain and be a star." Reaching into her apron pocket, Natalie pulled out a black and white photo of the Cortex's and Smiling Jimmy's and handed it to Nina. "Here you go Nina, our whole family, excluding Neo that is." Nina's eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the whole family in one place. The girl carefully grasped each side of the picture and held it away from her face to get a proper look at their old family. The photo showed twenty two people. All of them circus performers, donning some sort fancy attire with painted faces and noses. There were jugglers, tightrope walkers, firebreathers, acrobats, jesters with the pointy hats, magicians, even professional lion tamers wielding whips.

"You see Nina, the Cortex's fell on hard times. Supporting so many children was difficult, until the circus showed up in our town one day. Later that day my husband Nate a.k.a The Co Master Ringleader and Neo's dad came home to me and the family with great news; he had made a deal with the owner of Smiling Jimmy's. We all decided to take the role of entertainers and join the traveling circus. We almost all caught on immediatly."

The goth girl was in awe, this stroll down memory lane and going more in depth about the rest of the Cortex family was exciting. "Did you do every kind of act?" Nina asked. Her elbows resting on her knees and her hands were now cupped under her chin as she took in a more detailed version of the family backstory. Nina was really getting into this more and more with each passing second. She was in awe.

"We did indeed. With over twenty kids, we basically filled every slot. Me and your great uncle Nate signed a contract but it was only after the accident that it was broken. Our final show went out with a bang. Literally. The only reason I wasn't caught in that explosion too was because I made a break for it. Away from the tent before it was sent sky high. Thanks a lot Neo." Natalie resisted the urge to slap him again after seeing the look on Nina's face earlier.

"I was only five mother!" Her son protested, before throwing his head back and groaning in disbelief. "And that's how you managed to survive?!" As his eyes carefully raked over the image, Neo lowered his head. A slight pang of guilt and remorse came over him, "Look, I'm sorry but you and the rest of our family just failed to accept that I didn't want to follow down the clown path. Your passions were to entertain, while mine was to study."

"Yeah? And just where has that passion gotten you now?" Natalies smirk reappeared on her face, causing him to start stumbling over his words. She polished off the rest of her juice and set the glass down while she awaited his answer, only imagining what he could have been up to and the progress he had (hopefully) made over the last few years.

Neo needed just one, _one_ good answer to give his mother. Thinking back through his horrible childhood and everything else, he found nothing, "Well, I, I..." He soon hung his head and admitted defeat. Cortex didn't have an excuse this time, the scientists words had failed him. "Not very far. I created an army of mutant evolved animals, to try and take over the islands and rule them with an iron fist...but it didn't pan out like I expected. You see, the mutant I wanted to have as the leader and general of my army, I failed to turn him evil. Currently Crash is now my worst enemy and when you heard my voice earlier, he was using me as a snowboard. It was humiliating or rather humiliskating."

"So basically you failed and now have yourself an enemy? Really? All that studying you did for nothing? Well if Smiling Jimmy's was still in business, the life of a clown wouldn't seem so bad now would it?"

Nina soon chimed in with her own little comment, "I think it sounds fun. I always thought clowns were hilarious." That comment from his own neice almost sent the scientist right over the edge and into a fit of rage.

Cortex couldn't beleive that Nina was taking Natalie's side. It almost felt like betrayl, "Ah! Nina, whose side are you on right now?!"

"I'm on your side Uncle Neo." Nina replied, reaching one hand up and rubbing her neck. "I'm sorry, it's just that I'm excited to meet someone else in our family besides you. You also said Natalie here was possibly my great aunt? And something about you not studying the family tree?"

Looking at her only remaining son after gazing upon Nina again, Natalie shouted, "You didn't study the family tree?! I thought that'd be one of the first things you ever learned Neo." His mother sounded more than disappointed. Then again, she was already disappointed in him. Natalie looked at Nina and her smile returned. "Well, Nina I actually am your Great Aunt Natalie, cause I just remembered our fourth daughter married. It's very nice to meet you."

 _'I was right.'_ Cortex thought, as he observed his neices facial expression. _'Glad you know someone else now.'_

The goth girl covered her mouth to muffle a squeal but part of it escaped her lips. _'This is going to be fun.'_ Nina thought.

* * *

"Aku Aku!" Crunch called, running into the living room with Pura at his heels. Both of them were almost out of breath. "We've got a situation! Coco's gone! She's not outside anywhere!" Crunch shouted and Pura began meowing loudly again, which was starting to annoy Polar and Baby T. The two pets curled up into a ball and placed their claws and paws over their ears. They could only take so much.

The witch doctor sensed fear, which was not a good thing. Aku Aku preferred a calm atmosphere, not one filled with tension, "Relax Crunch, it's not good to get worked up and stressed out. Just take a deep breath for a moment and calm down." Aku Aku persuaded. Stress was one word that was not in his vocabulary. Carefully taking his words into consideration, the muscular bandicoot did just that. He let himself relax and the tension almost immediately went away. Crunch then nodded, giving him a sign that he was ready to explain the situation. "Now what happened? Do you beleive that she went missing?"

Crunch aided the masks advice and slowed himself down. "Well you see, I was doing the routine chores when I heard Pura meowing. Naturally, my curiosity gets the better of me, so I go out and check on her. Cause that's the kind of nice, caring older brother I am." He then exhaled sharply through gritted teeth, "Now, here comes the concerning part. Coco's not here. I already searched both the yard and the garage already."

Aku Aku carefully listened to his explanation before sharing his thoughts...

"It's alright, we'll go fan out and look for her. She couldn't have gone far. Come on, let's go round up your brother." Crunch opened the door and they headed out. The family pets followed them down tword the beach to wake up Crash. Just earlier, everyone was calm because Coco was doing alright. Now that she was missing, it was time to go searching.

Crash was laying up against a palm tree with his feet propped up on a rock. Eyes closed and his hands were resting on his stomach. The hero bandicoot was clearly still slumbering. A butterfly flew down and landed on his nose but he didn't take notice. "Hey, little Crashy, wake up. We've got a situation." Crunch informed, tapping him on his shoulder and scaring away the butterfly in the process.

Crash twitched and rolled over on his side, muttering noises in his sleep as a response. "Crash, this is serious! Coco's missing! This is no time to sleep the day away!" Aku Aku used his magic to pluck a fruit from the tree. It fell and bonked him right on the head.

It took a minute but soon Crash stretched his arms out and released a huge yawn. He had been napping for quite a while and now Crash felt fully rested. Green eyes looking up, he saw Aku Aku and Crunch. He rolled his head to one side, wondering why he had been hit with his favorite, or rather his only snack as Cortex already knew. Crash focused his vision on his older sibling and witch doctor mask.

"Crash my boy, Crunch here had feared the worst. Something's happened to Coco, she's nowhere to be found." The younger bandicoots head shot up and he jumped up in a heartbeat. "Ready to go?" Aku Aku wondered. Crash gave a quick spin, followed a thumbs up. "Alright, move out guys!"


	16. Truth, Lies and A Sister Spy

_'I have both an uncle and a great aunt? This is the best day ever! Even if things aren't great between them, I'm really glad Uncle Neo brought me here.'_ Nina couldn't stop smiling ever since she had been given an in-depth explanation about her family. She felt that her face couldn't accommodate such an enormous expression. Nina watched as her aunt wiped down the counter and tidy up for the day. "Thank you for that wonderful tale of our old family Aunt Natalie, I really enjoyed it." Nina didn't want this day to end. She was tempted to ask him if she could invite her great aunt back to the castle with them but after seeing what had happened already between Cortex and his mother, Nina figured she would wait. She knew that her uncle couldn't say no to her but that didn't stop the girl from imagining all the fun times they could (hopefully) have together.

Warm eyes gazed back at her. "You're quite welcome Nina." Pretty soon Natalie's curiosity about the girls metal appendages at the end of her arms soon peaked her interest as she sat her rag down, momentarily pausing her task of finishing up her work. Grasping one she looked it over very carefully, taking in every bolt, every metal digit. Nina was cautious as to not suddenly curl her fingers into a literal iron fist and accidentally crush her great aunts bones. "What's with the metal hands? Don't get me wrong, they're quite something, got a little weight to them and I'm really intrigued but...why?"

 _Why?_ That was the question that caused Nina to freeze. The happy, entertaining thoughts of the old Cortex family circus act was pushed to the recesses of her mind. What rushed forward and replaced it, was the old memory of her uncles cruel and unusual punishment, due to his nieces soft heart. Nina almost couldn't answer immediately, because she didn't want to imagine Natalie's reaction. Gulping, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind which was obviously the truth since she didn't want to lie, "Ask Uncle Neo. He did it." That comment sparked a fire in Natalie's eyes.

Natalie then noticed her son had another guilty look on his face. Neo turned away from her to focus on nothing in particular but still looked at his mother out of the corner of his eye. He had heard that whole thing and just by seeing the anger and disappointed mix of emotions that his mother's eyes beared, he sniffled slightly. "Care to explain?" Natalie wondered, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Swiveling around and gazing at Nina, the scientist noticed his niece was trembling, as she mouthed the words "Don't do it."

Neo lowered his head briefly but then brought it right back up. "I'm sorry." Is what he mouthed back to her. ' _Since I told Dr. Jacobson I want to be a better person, I guess I may as well tell my mother the truth. What's the worst that can happen?'_ Finally, after one long solid minute, Neo broke the silence and held up his hands, as he locked eyes with his mother. "Alright, you've got me mother. You see Nina had a kind heart on top of a love for soft, fuzzy animals. I didn't consider her evil enough to my liking..." Neo took a small pause, he didn't want to fully explain but he assumed that Natalie would wait. She would wait as long as it took, he figured. "You see, because of her kind heart and nice demeanor, I kinda replaced her real hands with metal ones."

"Again why?" She asked, her curiosity killing the cat. Natalie was starting to get the message but she needed to know just a little bit more in order to have a clear picture and understanding. Why did her last remaining son resort to replacing his nieces real hands with a set of sci-fi ones?

Guilt began eating him alive and Neo practically yelled out the truth at the top of his lungs. "It was so she wouldn't be able to grasp or hug any sort of soft, cute, cuddly animal without crushing them and killing them in the process!" As the scientist cupped his hand over his mouth, he saw the customers and residence of Moulin Cortex look in his direction. Being greeted by angry glares and looks of annoyance from almost everyone, Neo just wanted to run but he knew he couldn't.

"Hey, would you pipe down mate!?" Dingodile yelled, his claws digging into the wooden table due to the thick atmospheric tension. "We come here for peace and quiet you know! "And you just ruined it!"

"Yeah, keep it down, your yelling is distracting! Ami snapped, blowing a tuft of green hair out of her face. Her and the rest of the female bandicoots tuned Cortex out for the rest of their performance.

"Oh sorry, I forgot, this is a place of peace and quiet I wouldn't want to DISTRACT anyone!" Cortex yelled, punctuating that second to last word. Ami growled at the scientist, her hands starting to curl into fists, which caused him to flinch and gulp with fear. Megumi and Liz held her back and calmed her down.

At that point, both Cortex's niece and mother even gave Neo a look too; one concerned, the other annoyed.

"How low are you willing to go to get what you want Neo? First you blow up and wipe out our family and now you take away your niece's ability to feel?" Natalie shook her head. "Where did me and your father go wrong in raising you?"

Cortex already knew the answer but right now, he didn't want to take anymore of this. Him and Nina still needed to make a stop at Madam Amberly's before heading back home. It also dawned on him that he needed to check in on his Lab Assistants and find out how the reconstruction of Cortex Castle was progressing. They had to be getting close to being done by now. Especially since Dr. Cortex had only given them one fifteen minute break per day. ' _You can take a full rest once the full construction and restoration is done!_ ' He had said. Cortex figured that if any of them powered down and malfunctioned, he could just replace them with a brand new robotic clone.

"Alright, this has been an interesting visit mother, don't need to answer that last question. I'm just glad you got to meet Nina. Now we must be off." He motioned Nina to follow. "Let's go." Neo wanted out of here as soon as possible. He had had enough emotional strain for one day. He just wanted to get back home and forget his horrible childhood and his estranged relationship with his mother.

Cortex also wanted to crack open Eric's book to see what it had to say. Hopefully it could help him start the process of fixing his life, as well as trying to become friends with a certain orange marsupial which was easier said than done.

Clearly, it was going to be a long rest of the day for him.

However, the Cortex duo didn't make it two steps twords the door before Natalie stopped them in their tracks midway. "Wait, you're leaving?" She asked.

"Yes, mother, I've had enough drama for today, thank you very much. Also, why do you care? You said I was a disappointment." Neo responded, clearly shocked that his mother asked that.

"I wasn't talking to you." Natalie said as she hung up her apron for the day. Her son simply rolled his eyes as Nina looked twords her great aunt, before running back and enveloping her in a hug. "I was talking to your adorable niece." That comment made Nina squeal and hug Natalie tighter, nuzzling against her chest as she did, while Natalie patted the top of her head, brushing her spiky black hair back a little. Nina was quite content with all this at the moment but she knew she could not ignore her uncle.

Looking back at him, Nina noticed concern in his eyes. "Of course you were. Oh and I'm not adorable?" Neo wondered, crossing his arms over his chest before waltzing over and leaning up against the doorframe. He already knew the answer, he just wanted his mother's own opinion. Back in the days of the traveling family circus act, Neo had always been "the odd one out." The "black sheep of the family" as the old saying went. It had been like that all his life, even through school the torment that his family bestowed upon him had never entirely faded. It just drew mockery and shame from almost all of his classmates. Brio and N Gin were the only ones who were sympathetic enough to put up with his shenanigans and scientific interests all those years ago.

"Have you looked in a mirror lately? Cause you're quite the opposite of adorable." Natalie admitted. She didn't even feel anything even remotely related to guilt after saying that, since it was the truth and her own honest opinion. Her son couldn't even argue against that statement. Neo was aware that sometimes the truth hurt but he had gotten used to it over the years. He knew that not everyone liked him. Now he couldn't be even more relieved that Crash couldn't talk, who knows what he would have to say? Knowing Crash, it would probably be positive.

 _'As I already mentioned to Coco, there's a very small list of people who actually care about me. Mother is not one of those people, no. They would be: Crash, Nina, Tiny and recently added, Dr. Jacobson.' I'm on the fence about Brio though. At least I'm not completely alone here.'_ That was one thought that made him feel slightly better. Looking tword Nina, the goth girl was still wrapped tightly around Natalie. "Nina, you coming or not?" Her uncle asked, his foot starting to tap the wooden floor with impatience. "We're burning daylight here."

Nina figured that she would ask right now, since it was probably a good time. "I'm coming but I just wanna ask one thing Uncle Neo." She said, holding up one finger.

Her uncle knew that gesture meant 'give me a minute'. He sighed and ran a gloved hand down his face before backtracking and joining the ladies, knowing that he just couldn't get out of here quick enough. "And that one thing you wanna ask would be...?" He wondered trailing off.

As she unwrapped herself from her great aunt, Nina breifly paused to gather the question in her mind, she didn't want to screw this up. "Can Aunt Natalie come live with us?"

Neo's eyes widened in shock after hearing Nina's question. "What?! No, no, no, no, no! I refuse to let that happen!" He protested, holding up his hands and waving them around.

"And why not?" Nina wondered, a look of confusion on her face.

"Cause, family living together is a bad idea. At this point I think I'd rather start the process of trying to befriend Crash, rather then have my own mother living with us and criticize every little thing I do!" Neo seethed.

"What did you just say!?" That comment from her own son did it, forcing Natalie to release the girl and raise her hand once more, unable to resist her urge to punish him. Neo flinched and fell backward, hitting the ground hard as he recoiled away, flattening himself up against the wall.

' _Now I've really done it. Why did I open my mouth? This is Madam Amberlys all over again.'_

Neo looked up in fear and gulped, his face drained of color, the remains of his hair that he still on his head stood on end as Natalie brought her arm down again. Like a hammer heading right for a nail.

* * *

Coco paced back and forth her current feelings (now consisting of anger, guilt, stress and betrayal) were still swirling inside here. She started to wonder how she was going to keep this a secret from her family. As much as she hated to, it was for their own good. The bandicoot girl rubbed circles on her forehead, trying to get her thoughts straight.

Coco just had to focus and not let the truth slip but she was smart enough to not let that happen.

 _'I can't beleive that I'm working against my own family but this is for a very good reason._ _F_ _amily is the most important thing to me. Without my brothers, Pura and Aku Aku, I'd be all alone.'_ Being alone was one of her worst fears. Sure the solitude was welcoming every once and a while so she could focus on her work but Coco didn't want it all the time. ' _Of course,_ _I want to get even with Cortex and once I hear from him himself that he's head over heels for my brother then I can truly start plotting my revenge._ _Eliminating that scientist is my one goal.'_

The sound of rustling kitchen utensils broke Coco's thoughts. "Coco?" Brio asked.

"Yeah?" She stopped midway to the door and gave her attention to the chemist.

Brio handed her the cork capped beaker containing the serum. "N Gin forgot this, would you mind taking it to him? Please?"

"Sure, I'm heading that way anyway." Taking the mixture in hand with a tight grip around the neck of the glass container as to not drop it, she headed out of the room to see what all the commotion was about. Opening the door, green eyes widened when she saw a mess of kitchen tools sprawled all over the floor and N Gin muttering to himself.

"What the!? Coco exclaimed.

"Where are you you little pan, I know you're in here somewhere?" The cyborg was focused on this task from the rest of the team that he didn't even hear Coco's shriek of surprise.

"You doing alright N Gin?" Coco wondered, feeling slightly awkward as she asked that question. ' _Why am I even asking this, he's mentally unstable?"_

N Gin, now donning a chefs outfit, (consisting of a hat, a red scarf around his neck, a white chefs coat and apron and black pants) paused his work in finding a pan to use to answer Coco's question. "Doing just fine, thanks for your concern." He turned around and then tilted his head. "Why do you ask?" N Gin questioned, as he finally pulled out the container he was looking for. He sat the pan down on the stove and lit the burner, before grabbing a wooden spoon from the drawer. Placing it down on a spoon rest, he headed for the fridge.

Coco's eyes started focusing on something else but she spoke what was on her mind. "No reason, just wondering; have you ever actually cooked before? Just curious as to why the team is relying on you for this little task?"

N Gin happily answered the girls question while at the same time, he was scoping the shelves to see what he could rustle up for Cortex's lunch. After much consideration, he had finally settled on a hearty plate of old fashioned spaghetti. N Gin collected the bottle of sauce and noodles from the cupboard as he explained the origins of his culinary journey. "Well, the team knows that I took a cooking class back in my days of the academy."

"And let me guess, the first attempt didn't go so well?" That was the only thing that Coco could assume. Ever since their last battle in space four years ago, she never figured that N Gin would ever pick up a different hobby rather than robots that fired lasers.

"Exactly I kinda burned everything I made but hey, the first pancake never turns out well right? Reminds me, the very first time I tried cooking, Madam Amberly actually assigned us pancakes as our first project. Coincidence? I think not. Me making Cortex's lunch is my opportunity to get this cooking thing down. I shall not fail this time!" N Gin snapped his finger and pointed it confidently tword the sky as he dumped the noodles in.

Coco caught a glimpse of a hot sauce bottle next to a pile of fresh Wumpa Fruits and a cup for their juice, after N Gin had poured half of that bottle in with the pasta. The lable read "Aleppo Pepper Hot Sauce." _'That sounds pretty hot.'_

"Ok, sounds like you want to redeem yourself, good thinking. And you know I think I should be getting back to my brothers, they're probably getting worried sick about me by now. Same with Pura. I'm still in for helping you and Uka Uka with your plan but since Cortex isn't here..."

"We know Coco, remember you're the alternative to Brio's truth serum so we'll need you here when we serve the master his lunch ." Pulling a small round device with a mic attached to it out of his pocket, N Gin handed it to the girl.

"Communicator?" She wondered taking it in hand and placing it her ear.

"Precisely. So if Cortex comes back here, which let's face it, he has to at some point, then we'll give you a buzz, am I right?" The cyborg chuckled.

"Right..Just keep me posted and give me a heads up when he gets back, cause right now I need to get back to my brothers. Oh and Brio asked me to give this to you." Coco handed him the serum, to which N Gin clicked his teeth and gave an 'ok' gesture in return as he set the beaker down next to the glass. With a nod, Coco headed out of the kitchen.

The rest of the N Team had a look of concern. Clearly it was due to the noise. "Is N Gin alright?" N Brio asked. "Just curious, hence the noise? You know how unstable he can be?"

"He's fine just making a mess and look guys I'm all for working with the enemy against my own brothers but I'm only doing this to protect Crash. I don't trust Cortex as far as I could throw him, which wouldn't be very far at all. Right now I've gotta go check in with the family. I'm also taking the flashdrive with me, if you guys don't mind?" Coco hoped they wouldn't.

"We don't care what you do with that and what about when Cortex returns?" Uka Uka asked, obviously concerned about their plan. Coco moved a strand of hair behind her ear and revealed N Gin's device. "Ah, communicator, perfect. We can rely on N Gin for some things."

"Great, I'll find time to listen to the playlist all the way through. Oh and speaking of N Gin, he's well on track with Cortex's lunch and said he would give me a heads up. I've got to go for now. As I told that cyborg, keep me in the loop. I'll find a way to get back here somehow. I'll probably have to make up an excuse but I can manage that."

The time master and witch doctor again couldn't argue with logic like that, especially with the sister of their worst enemy.

Uka Uka and N Tropy smirked at each other then looked at Coco. She gave the same expression back. "This'll be fun but for now I'm off." Giving a salute the bandicoot girl ran out the door.

The N Team, all except Uka Uka and N Gin rubbed their hands together evilly.

This was all going to be worth it.

* * *

Crabs quickly sidestepped out of the way and buried themselves into the sand to avoid getting trampled under foot, as Crunch, Crash and Aku Aku hurried along the sandy beaches. Their quest to find their sister was their number one priority at the moment.

"Coco didn't say she was going anywhere, the last thing I remember her telling us was she was heading out to play with Pura." Crunch recalled as he gazed down upon the tiger cub. Pura was growling, she'd been growling and meowing loudly ever since she had seen the two members of the N Team come to the Bandicoots house and bargain with Coco. "Pura, it's alright, we'll find her." Crunch soothed as Crash rubbed the cub between her ears.

The feeling of contentment came over Coco's riding companion. Purring happily, along with her tail wagging, Pura continued to follow the bandicoot brothers and Aku Aku. Her senses were on high alert however.

The mask carefully observed the ground, looking for clues while Crash and Crunch had two sets of eyes trained on the horizon and up in the air. "I get the feeling that she's not on the beach anywhere." Aku Aku admitted, looking out to sea when heard a seagull caw overhead. "Because if she was, there would be footprints left in the sand." He carefully studied the tide that was begining to roll in. Waves rushed forward, lapping at the sand and pulling it back out to the ocean. "If they were here left on shore by our sister, they're probably long gone now." Crash's ears flattened against his head. A whimper of concern starting to rise in his throat, due to anxiety that something bad would become of his only sweet, genius sister. Who would help him figure things out? Who would fix up their karts in case another race were to arise out of nowhere? Where could she be?

Crunch gave Crash a little pat on the shoulder and Crash knew that meant reassurance. He only gave his older brother a half smile however, Crash was aware that the only thing Crunch knew a lot about was weight lifting, exercise body building and family. Everything else was very minimal.

Pura then started sniffing the ground, hoping to pick up her owners scent. The tiger cub was currently unaware as to where the N Teams shelter resided. Again if she could talk, the bandicoots would have already found her. The cub couldn't seem to pick up Coco's trail, the ocean water must've washed any trace of it away. Pura could only figure that the bandicoot family wasn't going to leave any stone unturned. Looking twords Crash, he was literally doing just that as he began flipping over various rocks and shells.

"Well, where do you guys purpose we look now since we don't have any leads to work with?" Crunch wondered as he stopped suddenly to stretch out his legs. "The forest? The other side of N Sanity Island? A different island perhaps?" The older bandicoot started throwing out suggestions of potential locations. "Just taking a guess here since there are no clues..." He paused breifly to let his idea fully sink into his brain. "How about if we just wait and see what happens. I mean if Coco headed off on her own then she's bound to return to the house eventually, right? Crash?" Crunch looked tword his concerned sibling who simply shook his head yes.

The witch doctor mask raised an eyebrow. "Well, Crash seems on board with that plan. You're right, if Coco went out by herself, then she can get herself back home. We know that she can defend herself of needed and the way she was working the punching bag last night, Coco knows how to hit. Of course, being the concerned family we are, let's just look a little bit more."

* * *

Heading into the forest, Pura continued her task of finding her owners scent. "See anything guys?" Aku Aku asked. Crash and Crunch both came up negative and with no results.

"Coco!? Where are you?! If you're around, give us a sign would you?!" Crunch shouted.

"Coco?!" Aku Aku yelled.

As she headed along the edge of the beach of N Sanity Island, back twords home, Coco's ears stood up when she heard her name being called. Running twords the sound of her family she called out. "Guys, over here!"

Crash and Pura were the first to take off. "Hey, don't leave us behind!" Crunch shouted, he understood that the whole was worried about Coco but that wasn't an excuse to leave any family member behind.

Crash zipped right past everyone else and stretched his arms out, welcoming Coco in a hug as he lifted her off the ground. "Hi Crash. What are you guys doing on the beach?"

"What are we doing? Looking for you, Pura hasn't stopped meowing ever since she saw you walk off. Where have you been?" Crunch demanded. "Do you realize we've been worried sick about you?"

Coco couldn't have been any more right when she thought the family would be concerned about her.

After piecing together a (hopefully) good excuse, she spoke. "Well, I decided to go for a walk you know, try to forget about Cortex? Turns out, walking does a great job when in comes to clearing your head. It actually worked. I headed off along the beach twords the cave leading to Totem Hokum and I guess I lost track of time." Coco silently gave a nervous chuckle and tried not to avert her gaze away from her brothers. Crash then released her and gave a smile. "Well I'm back now." Pura dashed forward and lept up into the air, as she came back down her owner caught the cub in her arms. She started meowing and licking Coco's face, making her giggle. "No need to worry Pura, I'm fine, just trying to get things in order."

"Well good to know you're safe, we don't know when my brother and the rest of our worst enemies could come around. We've just got to be ready." Aku informed. "So keep on your toes guys."

"Yes sir, I'm always on high alert! Why do you guys think I keep a close eye on our house everyday?" Crunch gave a salute, same with Crash except the younger bandicoots tongue flopped out of his mouth.

"So true Crunch. Ok guys, let's get back home, I've still got to check the engines on the rest of our karts ." Coco decided. As they started walking back, she breathed in a sigh of relief. _'That was too close for comfort, they didn't notice that I lied. For now, I'll keep this on the down low..."_


	17. Pause For The Cause

On the far West side of N Sanity Island, remained the old ruins of Cortex Castle. Nothing but charred rubble and scorched, broken machinery. There was nothing even worth salvaging since nothing was left even remotely in tact. Crash had done quite a number on it during him and Cortex's first real encounter, ever since that bandicoot had jumped out the window to escape any further experimentation. Brio's old Evolvo Ray had also been damaged beyond repair in that process.

Not far off from that current location, reconstruction for a new fortress had been under way, ever since Dr. Cortex had sent his robotic Lab Assistants back to where his plan for world domination had begun. The planning, the restoration of the evil scientists once great empire...it had started years ago and was still a work in progress, since Cortex (being as demanding as he was) had wanted everything perfect. No little detail out of place.

Brio had invented and set up a device near the work site. One that could mass produce all the Lab Assistants they needed, just in case any of them were to malfunction and shut down.

Grouped together in sets of two, with one on each side, the cloned minions (all of which were clothed in construction worker outfits carried large, grey, heavy cobblestone blocks and placed them just so. It was amazing that their robotic limbs could manage such heavy weights, without getting any ripped out of their sockets in the process. That was the one thing that worried them the most. Even though they were doing good so far, they were all still tensed up with fear.

"Come on guys, put your backs into it!" A deep, bellowing voice shouted. It belonged to a huge muscular koala with large biceps and not so large legs, wearing pants and a red tank top. Spiked collars decorated both his wrists. If they could, all of the android robots would be rolling their eyes at Koala Kong, as they watched him carry two blocks at a time and laying them just so. The Lab Assistants looked forward in awe, their jaws almost hitting the sandy beach in disbelief.

"That's easy for you to say! You're all muscle and in case you hadn't noticed, we're just robots who aren't that strong!"

Following behind Koala Kong was a muscle bound tiger dressed in a loincloth with spiked shoulder pads and long, talon claws, complete with thin almost boney legs. He had clearly chosen to focus on upper rather than lower body strength like his fellow minion. But one thing that set him apart from everyone else was the fact that his name was ironic, "But Tiny is! Tiny very good." He announced, lifting up the blocks like they were nothing as well.

"Show offs." One of the assistants mumbled. "You're irritating."

"Totally agree. Mock us why don't you?" It was clear as day that they were all belittled by Cortex's mutated minions.

"Hey, stop the complaining!" Shouted a different assistant, who had taken the role of the leader. "Cortex said to stay focused. Now which one of you has the blueprints?" A monkey wearing red and white striped pants being held up by a comically large black belt, handed the clone a rolled up blue paper. "Thank you." Rilla Roo made a happy monkey sound to show he was satisfied, before running around in circles. "I know some of us are not trying to slack off and ' _monkey around'_ here but this is just ridiculous." He noted.

* * *

Dingodile and Pinstripe headed down the mountain, trekking through the snow, back to N Sanity Beach. They had to get out of Moulin Cortex just so they wouldn't have to hear their masters complaints. Their peace and quiet had been tainted and tampered with, due to Dr. Cortex's irritable personality. Moe and Joe didn't seem to be effected one bit.

"You think those slowpoke Lab Assistants are coming close being done with our sanctuary yet?" The portoroo wondered.

Dingodile only replied with a mere shrug of his shoulders. "I hope so, since I obviously don't want to return to Moulin Cortex, now that it's been tainted with. I can believe that he would cause a scene, no surprise there. However, what I can't believe, is that Cortex actually has a real mother whose human like him. Seriously, I could've sworn the guy was raised by a lone pack of wolves." The flamethrower welding, hybrid remarked.

Pinstripe chuckled at that as he slung the strap of his tommy gun over his shoulder. "Hee, hee, hee, lone pack of wolves, that's a good one. The one thing I _can_ beleive is him being born into a family of circus clowns." He had clearly overheard the scientists conversation with his mother. "Don't you think that too?"

Dingodile didn't answer that right away. Taking a brief pause, he let that sink into his brain as he scratched his chin, trying to compare those two seemingly different things. Which, after careful thinking, the hybrid finally managed to respond. "You're right mate. Cortex is like the walking definition of a freakshow and him being raised by clowns...well, put two and two together."

"It all makes perfect sense now." Both minions snickered as they continued on back to their former sanctuary.

* * *

"Hey, how's construction coming along?!" Dingodile wondered, shouting up at the android assistants. As they approached the work site, they saw that castle was coming along nicely. Slowly but surely they were getting there. With the exterior portion of it but by comparison, the interior probably wouldn't take that long either.

"It's coming alright. Hey would you and Pinstripe mind lending us a hand?!" Is what they heard back. "We need all the help we can get and Koala Kong and Tiny are not making this task any easier. They're stronger than we are. And don't even get us started on Rilla or Ripper Roo." The ex members of the Cortex Commandos caught sight of the blue kangaroo in a straight jacket trying to unroll a schematic with his feet. Everyone except Rilla Roo gave an awkward look to the unstable Ripper Roo.

And if there was one thing that both minions couldn't take was whining, they had put up with that for so many years, thanks to working under Cortex. The mans constant complaining and whining like a baby about not beating Crash, was starting to fray what was left of almost everyone's last nerve.

"No worries. I'd like to see this place finished asap. Given the choice between heading back to the mountain hangout or staying here to help out, pass us a hardhat." Pinstripe commanded. He figured this work wouldn't kill him and Dingodile since them and every other minion wanted this place fixed up like new. The Lab Assistants needed all the help they could get. Koala Kong handed them each a hat and assigned them a job. As they nodded and got started right away, a question burrowed into the bodybuilders head.

"What's wrong with Moulin Cortex?And what exactly is it, cause we've only ever heard of it? Care to explain?" The Lab Assistants who were suspended up in the air with a lift, paused their work from laying down cement to listen in.

"Moulin Cortex is a hangout in the mountains where Cortex's mother works, she's also the owner who hired me and some of our other troops. The reason me and Dingodile are here is because we just ran into the deranged doctor. When we left to come here, it looked like him and her were having a little confrontation."

"Woah, woah, wait? You mean Cortex has a mother? Like a real one? Could've sworn he crawled out from under a rock...from the bottom of a lake." The leader Lab Assistant commented.

"Why didn't we think of that, me and Dingo here always thought he was raised from a lone pack of sad wolves."

Those rude remarks which caused most everyone to start snickering also caused Tiny Tiger to drop the block he was carrying right onto the toes of two Lab Assistants making them scream. As they tried to free themselves, Tiny whipped around and pointed a threatening talon claw at Pinstripe, "You take comments back. No insult master. " The snickering immediately subsided when Tiny marched tword the portoroo and hybrid and loomed over them, claws raised, ready to slash them.

"You won't fugettabout what you're about to do but I wish I could." Pinstripe noted.

"Mate, we should've kept our mouths shut. You know how Tiny values Cortex."

"Gee, ya think?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was an intermission chapter. I just needed a break from the Cortex family drama. Don't worry, it'll pick up for the next part and until then keep smiling!


	18. Having "Good" Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter title has two meanings. Enjoy!

Coco was on pins and needles for the remaining duration of the day. Since she had been home, following her collaboration scheme with the N Team, the bandicoots stomach was in knots and lined with the feeling of guilt. At some points, Coco thought she was going to vomit.

Luckily for her however, she was good at steeling her nerves. Once Coco was focused on something, she was really focused, she wouldn't let anything slip. She was also relieved (and lucky) that neither one of her brothers or Aku Aku had bothered to question her further about where she had been.

After re-changing back into her loose, yellow mechanical work pants that had patches sewn onto them, Coco headed back into the garage. She figured that maybe a little tinkering on the blue Team Bandicoot kart would help her clear her head a little bit. Since Coco had retired to the garage earlier in the day to get her mind off of a certain evil scientist, she could only figure that she could get into a relaxation state again if she went back to finishing what had already been started. Both Coco and Crunch didn't like doing things half or even three quarters of the way. No matter how long it took, they wanted to get everything completely done. And done right.

The statement that Aku Aku had mentioned about distractions being good, couldn't be any more true in this case. It was nice to see that Coco was trying not to stress and that she was biding her time carefully and accomplishing things that needed to get done. It was better than making rants and threats and getting herself all worked up. She had been meaning to check on all the familys race karts and get everything back into tip top shape for quite a while now.

After popping the hood open and propping it up so it wouldn't fall, Coco then placed the key in the ignition and started the vehicle. After doing so, the young girl trained her emerald eyes on the engine while she also cupped a hand to her free ear that didn't house the small piece of N Team spy technology. Listening very carefully, her well trained ear didn't detect anything funny or out of the ordinary. Gears clicked and turned inside the engine block, oil was gently flowing. Everything sounded good so far. "Transmission sounds good, no oil leakage, no corroded pipes or cylinders. Alright, that's done, didn't take as long as I anticipated. Yay!" Feeling accomplished, she gently put the hood back down before hanging up her work clothes for the day. Closing the lid of her red toolbox, Coco picked it up and set it back on the shelf. ' _Guess I didn't need that after all.'_

Coco then waltzed back, turned the ignition off and slipped the key back into her pocket of her regular overalls. Her nose then wrinkled in disgust slightly at the smell of exhaust fumes creeping out from the tailpipes. Scurrying over to a window, Coco opened it up, letting the warm island breeze permeate the garage and draw the stench out. She covered her mouth to contain a cough, the brainiac bandicoot really wished she had worn a mask. Strolling outside, Coco took a deep breath of the refreshing, non polluted air. It was nice and welcoming. Gazing up at the bright sun that beamed brightly overhead, a smile spread across her face. _'What a lovely day.'_ Her right hand trailed down the side of her overalls and felt the flashdrive inside her right hand pocket. ' _Our_ _karts are all fixed, the family's all good for right now, so I guess I'll analyze the rest of that playlist, since I've got time to kill. See if the rest of the songs revolve around love, since I did tell the N Team I'd find time to do that.'_

Heading back through the garage, Coco made her way down the hall to her room. When she entered, the brainy marsupial sat down on the edge of her bed and grasped her laptop, before reaching over to a drawer in her nightstand to retrieve her own set of headphones. She opened the compartment, pulled out what she was looking for and closed it back up. Fluffing the pillow behind her head, Coco got herself situated and placed her computer on her lap. She had quite a few ballad love songs left. "Ok, let's analyze the rest of this 'not so secret playlist' and see what Cortex has compiled..."

Inserting the drive and the headphones, Coco clicked on autoplay and sat back. She started with where she had left off, which was only about five songs in out of twenty one in total, so she decided to resume it from there. Not ten seconds in, the bandicoot found it hard to hear the lyrics, she soon discovered why: After listening to the kart engine mere centimeters from her ear, Coco's ears were ringing. Her left one was buzzing slightly more than her right. She removed the communicator from her right and placed it in her opposite ear so that she could get a good listen, practically straining herself as she made her way through. "N Gin and Tropy weren't lying when they said this was not what I would expect from Cortex. Can't believe I trusted them and am going to help them."

Coco never imagined that she would ever hear the words "Cortex" and "in love" in the same sentence, much less use them herself. And she was one of only three people who had recently uttered those words. The others being N Brio and Uka Uka.

A knock soon came on her bedroom door, which slightly startled her. It made her cover her mouth out of fear. She hoped that whoever was out there didn't hear that last remark, it would just cause so many questions to arise. "Just a minute." Coco called from the other side. Closing her laptop and shoving the headphones under her pillow so as not to raise any suspicion, Coco gave the ok. "You can come in now."

* * *

Neo was frozen in place like a statue, his eyes wide and unblinking as Natalie's hand got closer to him. He was too paralyzed with fear to manage an attempt to try and run from his mother. Then again as Cortex had once said; _'you can't run away from your mistakes.'_ What good would running do for him now? It would probably only make things worse in the long run and he didn't want to poke the bear anymore than he already had. The last time that Cortex was this afraid was back in his academy days and Madem Amberly's was where he had to go next.

Nina on the other hand wasn't afraid. The goth girls bionic hands detached from the sockets on her arms and rocketed forward on their spring loaded chains. Nina's thick steel fingers snatched her uncle by his lab coat and pulled him tword her and out of his mothers range of fire, dragging him along the dusty floor. Natalie snapped her finger in frustration before quickly whipping around. However, her anger slowly started to dissipate after seeing Nina do that, while at the same time, she was actually quite impressed.

She still glared at her son however, "You just got lucky." Natalie murmured. It was quite clear that she couldn't care any less about Neo than she already did. Her eyes slighty scanned the room, watching her remaining customers head on out for the day. Some of them, including the Nitro Squad couldn't seem to get out fast enough that they were trying to shove each other through the door before something else arose.

Cortex breathed in a huge sigh as relief flooded his body. "Thanks." He smiled, as he looked up at Nina.

"No problem Uncle Neo. As I was doing that, I got an idea that I think will benefit all of us." She smiled hopefully as she stepped in between Neo and Natalie. Reaching down, Nina helped her relative up and brushed him off.

"An idea?" Neo fell silent for a short moment, he gulped with fear during that pause. "Um, should I be worried?" There was an obvious quiver in his voice as he asked that question.

Nina positioned one of her hands flat and gave an "eh" gesture as she moved her wrist and hand side to side, which clicked slightly with every motion. "That kind of depends on what I'm about to tell you. Just try not to freak out after I suggest it. Think you can do that?" She needed Cortex calm.

The scientist very carefully thought it through. Cortex knew that he could trust his own niece, since Nina didn't judge him when she questioned him about being in love with Crash. "I'll try, I'll hear you out Nina. What do you have in mind?"

Nina clasped her hands together, she was sure that this idea would prove effortless. Just like Aku Aku, Nina didn't like tension and there was a lot of it that had accumulated in the air since they'd been here already. "Well, I think you and your mother should try to work out your issues as well. Since there seems to be some unresolved conflict and tension between you and her as well as you and Coco."

Right as he heard the phrase _'work out your issues',_ there was only one thought (and name) that popped into Cortex's head. Heaving a long sigh, he took a wild guess, which Cortex could only assume would be the right answer. "Dr. Jacobson?" His niece clicked her teeth. "Let me guess; you want me and my mother to go through a session?" Nodding, the goth girl gestured a thumbs up.

"Why not, Eric is helping you and Crash, so why not have him help you mend your relationship with your mother as well? Think you can give this a try?" Cortex fell silent but managed to nod his head yes. "Family therapy!" Nina said in an excited sing song voice.

As she was doing that, Neo pulled out the card for Dr. Jacobson that Coco had given him. Or rather, he took from Crash's sister because he didn't have a choice in the matter, of him and his worst enemy having to work out their own problems through therapy sessions. Which were actually doing their job. Cortex didn't complain about being back in his office immediately following his first visit.

_'Dr. Eric Jacobson_

_Certified Licensed Family Therapist and Marriage/Couples Counselor_

_PhD in Psychotherapy_

_Helping out and healing bonds since 1996'_

"Couples counselor?" Neo's eyes widened when he saw those words, along with Psychotherapy. He always assumed all therapists were the same. He never knew there was a difference between them. "Ok, if you really believe that a professional therapist can fix me and my mother, so be it. But can we do it tomorrow? Again I've had enough excitement and drama for one day." Cortex's niece happily shook her head yes, proud of her uncle for being flexible and just a day ago, he was completely stubborn and refused to go through with things.

"Sure, we can sort this all out tomorrow. I'm confident you and Great Aunt Natalie will both benefit from a group therapy session, as well as you and Crash." Nina clasped her hands together, she felt accomplished that her uncle was willing to put up with his mother, even if things were a bit tense between the Cortex family.

However, Natalie was a bit unsure as she looked at the girl, wondering to herself what she was getting into. "Really, you think you and some therapist can "fix" what was broken between and him? Ha, good luck with that." She said as she headed tword the back room to collect her suitcase, stopping briefly along the way. Coming to a halt in front of a time clock, Natalie grasped a time card and stuck it into a slot. A click was heard, signaling that she was clocked out for the day.

Clearly Cortex's mother was also being stubborn. Nina could sense that it ran in the family. Neo's expression changed from relief thanks to Nina saving him, into concern for a family therapy session. However, his concern was leaning more tword his mother rather than himself. It wasn't going to be easy getting her to agree. He watched his mother disappear into the back room, she returned moments later with a fully packed suitcase. "Mother please, just give Dr. Jacobson a chance. He really knows what he's doing. He gets me."

Cocking her head, Natalie pursed her lips together. "Really? He gets _you_? Well, I guess somebody's got to. The rest of the family didn't." Neo inhaled a shaky breath, he didn't even know if the therapist could get to the root of the problem with his mother. She headed outside tword Cortex's air ship, taking a short pause to set down her bag down briefly, so she could lock the door behind her. She then grasped the rope latter very carefully and climbed up, her disappointment of a son and great niece following behind.

When she was the last to reach the top, Nina aimed downward extending her grappling hands to retrieve Natalie's luggage. She hoisted it up into the dirigible with ease. "You said my hands had a little weight to them but I think your suitcase has a little more." The goth girl joked, lightly chuckling through her teeth as she pulled it in and sat it on the floor. "What's in here anyway?"

"What's in there is all my stuff. I've been living and working here for years. After what he did, I left Neo alone and went off on my own to make my own living. Got a job as a bartender here and after the original owner kicked the bucket, I took over and made this place my own. I think I did an excellent job in giving this place a little makeover, this establishment was a run down shack when I first got here."

Cortex gaped in horror, he was in disbelief that his own mother said that she had left him, when it was the other way around. "Oh, you left me? I headed off on my own because you kicked me out of our fractured family! This is literally the first time you've seen me, aside from hearing my voice earlier." The scientist reminded as he slipped the key into the ignition. The engines roared to life, the propellers began rotating and the airship started off. "And given what Nina persuaded me to do earlier before you proceeded to hit me, you can come live with us. I'll allow it but you're staying in her room however, I don't want you near me."

"Good, I didn't want to be anywhere near you either. I almost can't even look at you right now. And you're not the boss of me. I should've just had Pinstripe kick you out of Moulin Cortex but no. You're lucky I even let you stay." Natalie scoffed before flipping her hair back and taking a seat. The family drama and tension continued to thicken. Taking his eyes off the sky for a moment, Neo flashed Natalie a cold glare, strong enough to peirce through her. His mother didn't flinch however, she held her ground and gave the same expression right back. Two sets of eyes narrowed to little slits. If they were still inside the club and anyone besides them and Nina remained in the room, pretty much everyone would be on the edge of their seats in anticipation, waiting to see what was going to go down next. Either that or people would start complaining.

"You can't even say one nice thing to me!" Neo snapped, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "I'm confident that Dr. Jacobson can help you and me. Nina's right you know, things do seem estranged between us."

His niece carefully grabbed his shoulders and turned him ninety degrees so Cortex could map out their route to the academy. "Eyes on the sky Uncle Neo, don't want to crash down or anything. We can try to sort some of this out later." It was so hard for Cortex to get a word in edgewise, since Natalie refused to listen to his opinions. There was one thought that ran through the three family members heads however:

Things were probably only going to get worse before tomorrow came. Or earlier than that.

* * *

Coco's bedroom door creaked open and there stood Crash with his familiar grin plastered on his face. "Hi big brother, something up?" Emerald eyes noticed one of her brothers hands was hidden behind his back. "Why's your hand behind your back?" Coco could only imagine, Crash did have a tendency of doing things without giving any second thoughts. Reveling his hand, the shorter bandicoot saw that there was a tan, ceramic jar attached to the end Crash's left hand. "What happened?"

Aku Aku appeared from behind Crash and explained their predicament, "You see, Crash was feeling peckish, blame that on his appetite and he kinda got his hand stuck in a jar while trying to retrieve the last cookie. Think you can lend us a hand?" The mask questioned.

Coco hopped off her bed and gazed at the taller marsupial. Crash gripped the neck of the container and started twisting it to try and remove it himself but Coco interjected, as she didn't want him to do anything that might injure him, "Here, come with me big brother,I don't think you'll get it off that way. I'm sure this is a simple fix."

"I told Crash he should've tipped the cookie jar since it was a narrow hole but he was confident he could grasp it and pull it out with ease. Right Crash?" The bandicoot in fingerless gloves sadly nodded his head as he followed his sister, Aku Aku floating behind. "He didn't listen and this was the end result. I didn't even try to stop him. Crunch is outside tending to the garden so we figured it'd be better to ask you. I sometimes find a few of his methods just a little bit unorthodox."

Entering the kitchen, Crash pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and sat down. He extended his arm out, flat and straight on the table top and Coco headed for the fridge to find some sort of liquid/ oily substance to make it easier to free his hand.

After retrieving a stick of butter, the younger bandicoot applied some all around the base of the container and let it sit for a moment. When she thought they were all good to go, Coco gently took hold of each side. "Alright big brother I'm gonna lightly twist this, what I need you to do is very simple; I need you to twist your hand in the opposite direction that the container is going, can you do that for me?" Crash pondered that question for a few seconds, letting it swirl around in his semi empty head. Soon he wordlessly gave a nod of approval, knowing he could trust her. As soon as Coco begun to twist the jar to the right, Crash started going in the opposite direction. After a few gentle twists and turns, a pop was heard as the cookie jar finally came off. "Ok, there we go. You're free now." The girl tilted the jar and the cookie fell out into her hand. "Success." Grabbing a napkin, she cleaned the butter off her and Crash, before giving him his treat. "Here Crash, don't spoil your appetite before dinner now. And next time, ask one of us to assist you." Giving a satisfied smile, Crash grasped the cookie and broke it in two, giving the larger half to his helpful sister. "Is this your way of saying 'thank you'?" He nodded.

"Looks like it." Aku Aku observed. "Nice going Coco."

"Oh you're welcome. Anything to help out the family. Speaking of helping out, Crash when do you and Cortex go back to therapy?" Crash dashed over to the fridge and snatched the calendar off of it. Dashing back, he pointed to the 5th which was yesterday and then counted out seven days from when he and Cortex started, stopping when he got to the 12th. "Ah, a week, ok. Just want to make sure so I don't stress and plot Cortex's revenge for the next six days. Keep me in the loop Aku Aku."

"I'm sure me and Crash can both do that. In that time, try not to work yourself up, you've been doing a good job. Just do things to keep yourself occupied, alright?" Coco gave a hearty thumbs up.

Setting the calendar down, Crash gave Coco a hug and headed off outside to see Crunch. The blonde haired bandicoot watched him stroll out of the kitchen, before scooping up the cookie jar and placing it back on the kitchen counter _. 'You are sweet but I wonder what was on the con side of that little list? I'll consult N Gin for that bit. And why would Cortex stalk you for years and complie a secret song playlist? Is he just an obsessed stalker or is he really that in love with you? Or is this all just a trick to catch us when our guard is dropped? I wonder just what_ _group therapy and Brio's serum will bring...?'_


	19. Proceed With Caution

Propellers spun and the engine sputtered along in the afternoon sky as Cortex's dirigible slowly progressed tword their next destination. Of course with the drama between family members, it was anything but high flying. It was more of a slow, harrowing, tense ride tword his old school. Natalie, with one hand resting on the arm rest, cupped her opposite hand under her chin and gazed out the window tword the sky, feeling quite bored at the momemt. Nina however couldn't keep her excitment about her new found relative contained inside, while Neo on the other hand was trying to do the exact opposite of that. He was trying his hardest and his best to not completely snap before he got home. It wasn't at all good, trying to contain his anger but he wanted to wait out till tomorrow to see Dr. Jacobson, for the third time this week. The therapist had already been surprised by his presence just today, so Cortex could assume he would get a similar scenario tomorrow.

"So is that all you've been up to, since I left? You're still just running a club hangout?" He asked, praying that he wouldn't udder something that would cause another scene (like the one in Moulin Cortex earlier) to surface. Neo already knew that if you couldn't say anything nice then it was better not to say anything at all. There were plenty of things that he wanted to say to his mother but they all fell under the negative rather than the positive category. They probably would only be reciprocated with an insult tword him or an opportunity to try and hit him again. Cortex couldn't even look at her out of the corner of his eye. All he could do at this moment in time was keep his guard up, his head down and Nina close to him.

"Yes, that's pretty much all I've been doing." Was Natalie's only reply before adding in more info about why she chose her new occupation seconds later. "Since I no longer have a husband and the rest of our family, thanks to you, I had to get a normal job. Hung up the circus attire for an apron and pen and became a bartender, it may not be the most entertaining thing in the world but it keeps me working." She almost spoke that entire last sentence through gritted teeth. Natalie Cortex didn't completely hate her job as a bartender but she also didn't love it one hundred percent either. She was somewhere in between the two and she knew from experience that her top priority was that she had to make a living somehow.

"Well, you have a new job and now a great niece to keep you busy for a while." Nina chirped as she transitioned seats to sit next to her aunt, clicking her seatbelt into place after doing so. Her eyes shined bright with happiness, though concern for the current rift between both family members lingered inside her mind. She knew that her uncle came first and foremost. But this was an awesome bonus.

Natalie paused for a second and then smiled at her. There was something about the girl that she couldn't get over but Natalie couldn't think of it at the moment. "That's true."

"Which will also keep you away from me." Neo noted, thinking to himself that this was a good plan. "Nina gets time with you and I get you out of my hair for a while. It's a win win for all three of us." He tried to sound as confident as possible but his brain and his thoughts were running wild throughout his head that he couldn't even bother trying to attempt it. Some thoughts were about his mother and group therapy, others about Crash and a few that were connected to the academy. Those last ones of which he didn't want to surface, for it was just too painful to try to reminisce about. He had enough emotional chaos to sort out already. He was for a second time already, digging back through the circus days only about thirty minutes prior to when they exited the mountain club. Just thinking about some of these was already causing a knot develop in the pit of Cortex's stomach and they weren't even there yet.

This already dramatic filled day continued to drag on and the old stomping grounds of the Academy of Evil would more than likely have Cortex at the end of his rope with everything that was connected to it. More traumatic childhood memories along with an embarrassing nickname (which the students and Madam Amberley herself gave him, following an equally humiliating incident when he was six) that stuck with him for years until Brio's potion mishap got them and N Gin kicked out. Which in retrospect was probably the only good moment in his entire life.

Cortex tried hard to steel his nerves as they pushed onward but he knew it would be anything but easy. Things were never easy on him. He just didn't know how Crash managed every single day to be the overly positive, enthusiastic marsupial that he was, who always went with the flow of things.

Right now, thinking about befriending that orange bandicoot was the least of Cortex's worries. He had bigger problems to face once they landed:

Much bigger (and personal) problems from his past...

* * *

Coco wondered just how long she could remain calm and in control. It was going to be tough these next few days or rather hours since she had to return to the N Team when she got the message from the enemy. She very well knew that this was all wrong, what she was doing but at the same time, it also felt so right. Coco swore she could almost feel herself trembling as her stomach did flip flops. As she walked down the hall passing by a photo of the family on way, her eyes met that of her brothers, the recent memory of Cortex's love shrine to Crash came flooding back to her mind.

_'I've got to find out the cons.'_

The blonde haired bandicoot slowly and quietly tiptoed down the hall, passing a sleeping trio of family pets on the way who were getting their daily nap in. The floorboards creaked under Coco's weight, which gave off a loud squeak and luckily it didn't stir the slumbering creatures she befriended during previous adventures with Crash. She was quick to inhale a sigh of relief, "That was close." Coco uttered under her breath, brushing her hair out of her face before clearing her throat as she made her way tword the hall closet. Slipping inside she quickly shut the door, not wanting to risk being out in the open, lest a family member wanted something, "Bandicoot to cyborg. Bandicoot to cyborg. Are you there?" Coco spoke into the communicators wireless mic. "Do you read me? I repeat, are you there?"

Static feedback came out of the device as a connection was established. "I read you Coco, loud and clear on this end, just adding the finishing touches on lunch. Which is probably dinner at this point. What's up? Cortex isn't even back yet." N Gin reduced the heat on the stove so the sauce wouldn't burn, before giving it another quick stir. N Gin was surprisingly good at multitasking and juggling two things at once, he assumed it came without thinking. The mentally crazed doctor was just as crazy as Crash but not nearly as unstable as Ripper Roo. But him and Roo did however have a love of objects that exploded or detonated.

"I was just curious to know N Gin, what was on the con side of that little list Tropy showed me when I was over there? I was only focusing on the pros. I should've taken both sides into account but I didn't." Coco gave an awkward laugh at that remark.

"Looking at both sides is important." N Gin noted. "Alright, I'll go get the list. Be back in a jiffy." With that said, the cyborg headed through the kitchen door tword N Tropy who was sitting on an armchair in the parlor rubbing his hands together, just imagining the look of embarrassment that would soon be present upon Cortex's face after the serum. Uka Uka floated nearby with an evil smirk drawn upon his face. That would be the highlight of their day.

"Perhaps we should've just asked where Cortex was going. Seriously, he's been gone for over an hour now." Brio observed. As of now, he was lying on his stomach on the couch, his gaze affixed on the wall clock watching the minutes slowly tick by. "You don't think he abandoned the team do you?" The chemists hands were resting under his chin as a yawn escaped him. The time piece clicked away and with each tick, bordem began to heavily settle into the room since the serum was completed earlier in the day before Coco's visit.

"Guys, if he _were_ to abandon the team and I'm still surprised he hasn't resorted to doing that yet, where on Earth would he go?" Tropy questioned, while slowly stroking the small curly beard on his chin, "It's not like he has a family to go home to. Plus, if that "abandon the team thing" were to happen, don't you think he would've left us years ago after the Time Twister incident?" When it came to the thought of who was the weak link in the N Teams chain, nobody could argue that it wasn't Cortex.

"Patience guys. Good things come to those who wait. And Brio, watching the clock won't get Cortex back here any faster." Uka Uka answered, eyes glowing with malice as he eyed N Tropy who grinned back. He then saw the unstable N Gin zip past them and dash back up the stairs, practically leaving flames in his trail. Coming back down moments later, he had the document in hand. "What's up N Gin? Haven't seen you run this fast since Brio touched your blueprints for you latest new and improved missile mechs only two weeks ago."

_All Brio had done was unroll one diagram to see what kind of stuff he had been sketching, only to have N Gin find out moments later when he stopped him in the hall and asked what was up. The chemist simply replied with 'Your door was open and there were multiple sketches and pens littered throughout your room so I figured I'd help you clean it up. Of course I got curious and I decided to take a little peek to see what you were tinkering with, that's all.' That answer had caused his friend and colleague to snap. Gulping with fear, Brio hightailed it away, N Gin on his heels._

_"_ Again I'm sorry, mechs are your department, I'm just the maker of potions." Brio apologized as he remembered that. Everyone knew N Gin loved his creations but they never thought he would get so, obsessively compulsive over them and start chasing anyone. But Brio's statement almost didn't take Tropy or Uka Uka by surprise. Each member had one special talent and beneficial skill to them and the team: N Tropy: Time and Warping Reality, N Brio: Potions and Serums, N Gin: Mechs and Missiles, and Uka Uka: Getting people to follow simple instructions and get results.

However, none of them knew about Cortex's talent since they had never seen him achieve anything other than failure to best Crash Bandicoot. Half the time he didn't even have an idea to go off of.

Pausing his full sprint and quickly turning his head around to look back at the concerned group, the cyborg gave a breif little explanation to his fellow minions, "It's just Coco you guys, she's now interested in the con side of that little list." Before the evil team even had a chance to start processing that sentence, N Gin had disappeared back into the kitchen without a trace."Sorry, got caught up with the team. Ok, Coco, here's the three cons that you requested: Not evil, smile almost never changes and rushes into things blindly and head on. Me and the team already find these statements to be true. What do you think?" N Gin was curious about Coco's opinion. While he awaited the bandicoots answer, he turned the stove off and moved the two pans to the back burner. He then proceeded back to Cortex's room to put the list back where he found it since it was faily short.

"Sounds pretty accurate to me, Crash is always doing his own thing but at times, he just doesn't ponder anything." Coco noted. "Thanks, the cons are right on point. That's all I wanted to know for now. See you guys soon when you contact me. This is gonna be fun. Over and out."

"Over and out." Static was heard on the other end as connection was lost _._

 _'Alright, now I'm all caught up to speed.'_ Rearranging her hair so it covered up the spy equipment, Coco walked out of the closet and back to the sanctuary that was her bright pink and flower decorated bedroom. Carefully watching her back as she made her way there. She then remembered the cookie in her hand that her brother had split with her. Licking her lips, she ate it but all her taste buds could register from the treat was guilt and the sour stomach she had on top of that wasn't helpful. Was her decision in trusting the N Team going to come back to haunt her later? Or would she soon have an upper hand on Cortex?

* * *

N Gin read over the pro/con list once more as he re entered Cortex's room, while also thinking about the serum. "He says he hates him but really Dr. Cortex is only acting like it. Never would have guessed he would ever sink so low and resort to stalking and constructing a whole shrine to Crash. Does he assume we wouldn't understand?" Pulling the tarp back he placed the list just so, tucking it behind the Wumpa Fruits that were sitting next to the pocket sized vile of the pure Love Setting. "Well, we already don't understand, so why hasn't he just given up and came clean. He's been fighting a losing battle with Crash for years. Right now however, the master is fighting a losing battle with himself." The cyborgs fake eye rolled around in his head as he covered up the horror show dedicated to the teams number one enemy or rather Cortex's number one obsession.

"Coco is going to be beneficial to our plan. Can't believe we were actually able to convince her to help us out." He touched the tips of his fingers together. "Hope the master gets back here soon." N Gin knew that neither Uka Uka or Tropy liked to be kept waiting.

As he turned to head out, a tiny glint in N Gin's peripheral vision in his normal, non imitation eye caught his attention. Poking out slightly just underneath his masters nightstand. Cautiously tip toeing over, the scientist knelt down and reached under the small space. He pulled out the long, skinny object: it was shiny purple in color with a smooth surface. Multiple straight edges all met at a sharp point on both ends. There were some rough, jagged places on it as well. Due to the fact he had seen it enough times, the half brain he had that was not impailed with a missile, was immediately able to register what the object was, while also being in shock as well.

N Gin's good eye widened in disbelief, "Wait, is this...?"

* * *

Crash leisurly strolled out tword the garden where his older brother was yanking the pesky weeds from the ground. Crunch thought weeds were an eyesore, distributing the garden where most famliy members would head, besides the garage in order to collect themselves and take a moment to relax. "There we go, gotta keep both the garden and our house looking nice." Crunch drew the back of his hand over his forehead as sweat stared to form. It was a nice afternoon and a perfect time to get that chore out of the way."Weeds are taken care of, pesky things." He noticed Crash out of the corner of his eye. "Hey bro, what's up? Or are you just coming out to see what I'm up to?" The younger marsupial gave a thumbs up to the second question "Well, not much. How's Coco? She all good?" Crash nodded brightly. "Good. Garden's been tended to, our wonderful sister is safe and sound. All in all, aside from Pura being as curious as she was about her owner, which was an appropriate response to the situation, I'd say that it's been a pretty good day. So I guess I'll get started on dinner then."

Reaching into the back left pocket of his jeans, Crash pulled out a purple yo yo. Tying the end to one of his fingers, he flung it forward and let gravity pull it back tword him. He repeated the same action over and over, except every few flings he would give the toy a little 360° spin. "Working up an appetite are we?" Crunch asked giving him a light pat on the shoulder.

The younger brother kept his focus (which was his eyelids half litted with his tounge stuck out) and gave a small head nod, anwsering the question. Crash didn't know why he was fascinated by the little toy, all he knew was that it kept him entertained for hours on end. "Well I'm gonna go start cooking." Crunch sat his basket of weeds down to dispose of them later and slipped the gardening gloves off his wrists when he got an idea. "You wouldn't mind taking care of these weeds and putting them in the pile out back next to the tool shed would you?" Crash complied and nodded, retiring his yo yo back into his pocket. "Alright thanks bro, let's go." Crunch handed his sibling the basket and the two brothers started off in opposite direction. But he and Crash were both oblivious to the fact that their sister had been watching them from her bedroom window.

* * *

Madam Amberly's Academy of Evil

If you wanted an education or a lesson in the vile world of evil, then this would be the school to attend in order to obtain such a degree. The vicinity offered regular courses alongside evil ones as well that included Geography, three language lessons, ( French, English and Spanish) Needlework and Culinary classes and many more. Biology and Chemistry were the only two science courses. Most students appplied here out of their own volition, their parents however were both suspicious and skeptical given the word "evil" right there in the name but their children insisted that they wanted it. The school itself rested upon a large archipelago island miles off and worlds apart from N Sanity Island and Iceberg Lab. Thick white fog surrounded the entire place, vicious guard dogs wearing spiked collars constantly roamed around the school yard, search lights were placed everywhere, ready to catch intruders or to catch the escapees at all times.

Currently, security had been doubled since one of the students had fled or rather, they had been persuaded to leave just two days ago. The place seemed more like an island prison rather than a private school, since it was meant to transform polite, kind hearted children into evil brats and Madam Amberly was the headmistress of the facility. She was always watching, quite similar to a prision guard.

In the distance, the building came into view. It almost appeared out of thin air, like a ghost in the night.

Cortex tried to keep his calm composure in tact while he parked his dirigible overhead the main building but he wanted so badly to snap at Natalie again. "We're here." He announced as he forced a constrained semi smile onto his face. Immediately after saying that however, he remembered the first trip here with Crash.

_'My airship! Without it we're stranded! Tie it to something secure I said! Hurry Nina or you'll miss the bus!'_

He had given the semi mindless bandicoot one job. One task so simple that even a monkey could figure out and yet, the scientist ended up having his dirigible slowly float away, since Crash's empty head thought a school bus would be heavy enough to keep Cortex's airship anchored to the ground. It was a miracle on how he even got it back after that little incident only a few days ago.

"Here where?" Natalie asked, feeling the tiniest bit iffy as she scanned their surroundings. She was already getting a weird vibe from this place. From the lights that illuminated the pathway and the courtyard, she could see that part of the buildings exterior was kinda worn down.

"Welcome to Madam Amberly's Academy of Evil...This is where Nina currently goes to school, which is where I went years ago after I left you but we're here to currently "unroll" her." Neo explained. "You're probably curious as to why, aren't you?" A simple nod of the head signaled the scientist to catch his mother up to speed. "Well, I sent her here years ago to study the ways of evil and mischief but just recently I realized that I needed her by my side and also that I never wanted her evil in the first place. She cares about me and I'm all she has. Nina understands me...Much more than you and dad ever did." He muttered that last part of the sentence under his breath so quietly it was almost like a loud whisper. It caused Natalie's eyes to widened. Neo started to wander tword the exit of his ship, Nina on his heels but he gestured her to climb down first which she didn't seem to mind. "But we'll save this conversation for therapy however. For now, just stay here and try not to touch anything. I already had to chase this airship down once, I don't need a repeat of that again." Cortex told his mother without looking directly at her. "We'll be back momentarily...hopefully." He swallowed heavily, as he made the descent down the latter.

"I do whatever I want. You don't control my life, I control yours!" His mother stated.

"Oh, whatever! I've already been controlled by one other person, I don't need you to start doing that now!" Pushing a button on the set of keys he had in his grasp, the door on the dirigible shut tight. With that said or rather shouted, Neo and Nina disappeared through an open door. Ready to embark into what could only be another emotional roller-coaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Realized this long ago and just wanted you guys to note that back in chapter 13, I said that Natalie was a barista. Well I did further research and found out the correct term is actually bartender, I thought they were the same thing but they're not. Lol. Just wanted to clear up any confusion you guys might have had. If you had any, lol. Sorry about that. :P
> 
> Also, fun fact: When I thought of Natalie as Nina's Great Aunt, that's a reference to the ICarly episode IWant My Website Back where Spencer poses as a woman. Quote below:
> 
> "But Nevel hasn't seen my Great Aunt Natalie."
> 
> "We don't have a Great Aunt Natalie."
> 
> "What size dress do you wear?"
> 
> "Ten, why?" 
> 
> About this chapter, I almost didn't want to include that scene with N Gin but I added it in anyway. The object he found (you all know what it is) will be used much later in the story. And I mean much later. I think I crammed a little too much into this chapter. XD Woo hoo! Academy of Evil, I've been waiting to get to this part!
> 
> This was definitely my favorite place in Twinsanity. Classroom Chaos and Rooftop Rampage. Until next time keep smiling!


	20. Question The Impression

A student with a bat like appearance and long front bangs, dyed with a single fuchsia stripe entered the main office of the schools headmistress. She got down on one knee and bowed her head in respect twords her mentor. Leaning forward, the Brat Girl peered down below her into a green mist and cleared her throat, "Madam Amberly, we found Nina, she's returned to us. The silent alarm was tripped moments ago and an airship was spotted by our searchlights. Alongside that, the flying gargoyles that rest on top the schools weather vanes gave me and my partners a heads up." She revealed in a high pitched voice that was almost equivalent to whining.

A large overweight woman in a black dress, elbow length long gloves, complete with a jewel necklace with a large red A insignia adorned upon her forehead was hoisted up out of the mist. Long thick steel cables with one end attached to a pack on her back and the other tied to a motorized machine down below the large pipe organ helped to support her weight.

"Are you zure it's her?" Madam Amberly questioned in her definite German accent, with one eyebrow rising higher above the other one. She needed her suspicions confirmed, she just wasn't buying that story.

"Positive, she and someone else were seen in the hall. Some of our students who were cutting class said they recognized her right away due to her...well 'our' facilities attire. White and blue school uniform, red tie, white socks, black shoes. Kind of hard to miss since you assigned us to wear them and we all pretty much look the same. All of us except me and my gang of rouge miscreants that is." The Brat Girl noted. She thought about her fellow minions who were probably lounging around in the classrooms or annoying the rest of the students by mocking them. Sometimes they would shout at them through a mega phone, making the students even more annoyed. Just for their own amusement and nothing more. She sneered at the headmistress who decided to let that topic of the conversation slide. The Brat Girls origins as to how Nina Cortex had created them in the first place were shrouded in mystery.

"Zo, Nina haz decided to come back? Excellent. Go alert your allies and then zpread yourselves and the rest of zee ztudents throughout zee academy. Catch her by any means necessary." Amberley rubbed her hands together. She had a hunch that the goth girl would come back eventually. All she had to do was wait.

 _'By any means necessary? Ooh, our favorite way to do things.'_ Her protege's eyes lit up with delight as she grinned devilishly, clasping her hands, "Yes mam. You can count on us Madam Amberley. We shall not fail." Standing up, the Brat Girl gave a small bow and exited the room in a hurry to go round up her partners in crime. A smirk grew on her face as she plotted out how they were going to do this. She decided to wander around and gather some students up and ask them if they had any ideas. Which would be easy, considering this was an "evil" institution. Someone was bound to have an evil scheme or two up their sleeves.

* * *

Crash tucked the baskets handle under his arm as he headed twords the back of the house to dispose of the weeds. On the way there, the bandicoot couldn't stop smiling and thinking about what the next therapy session had in store for him and Cortex. Ever since Cortex had requested his assistance to help carry out his plan to take the Evil Twins down a peg, the feeling of working alongside his creator was still the main thing on his mind along with another emotion. That feeling that he almost couldn't describe. Crash didn't know where it originally came from but ever since his mutation under the Evolo Ray and inside Cortex Vortex, the bandicoot had always felt a little something twords the doctor. The feeling even bubbled up during all their previous confrontations. Crash suspected that Cortex must not have hated his guts completely since when Victor and Moritz first arrived, the scientist didn't seek help from anyone else, given the fact that almost nobody else (except Tiny, Nina and Dr. Jacobson. Maybe Brio?) even remotely liked him or was able to tolerate his irritable personality. On top of that, nobody else was even around during that brief moment of encounter that sparked one heck of an adventure. Which after a few tense and unexpected events, led them to warp to Twinsanity Island.

Following their immediate arrival in the dark, treacherous 10th dimension when he witnessed Cortex hugging his evil counterpart, Crash's speculations had well been proven.

Even though Crash knew that the Bandicoots and Cortex's were meant to be polar opposites (the whole 'good versus evil 'as Uka Uka had mentioned) he didn't completely despise the scientist who had created him and then tried to erase him right out of existence. Crash thought therapy was the best thing that ever happened to him and Cortex. Crash was greatful for his sister and Nina doing this for the both of them, even if he did think that Nina was a bit of a different character, given her goth like nature, she was a Cortex after all. He was positive that Coco felt the same about Nina that he felt about Neo. Even if the feelings between the rivals weren't hardly ever on the surface. Of course, they were more or less frenemies? Ever since their last crazy, dramatic filled adventure.

Crash couldn't agree more when Aku Aku had hoped that him and Uka Uka could work together. Crash knew the ancient witch doctor was good at being persuasive, Aku Aku was a good listener and he didn't like dealing with conflict. His evil brother was more stubborn, given that he was the exact opposite. It was just like Crash and Cortex and Coco and Nina. Why couldn't everyone just get along? The orange bandicoot just wanted everyone to be happy and not worry about things. Of course, without good there wouldn't be evil and their dimension (opposite the 10th) wasn't exactly a utopia.

Dumping the weeds, into a large yard debris pile that had already accumulated by the shed, he gave a satisfied sigh. Eventually Crunch would take the time to squeeze 'properly taking care of the pile' onto his to do list. Crash opened the door to the storage shed and sat the empty basket down inside, knowing his older brother would likely appreciate that. Crash wasn't always lazy, he just preferred to rest when he could get it. He then closed the door seconds later and (being the happy-go-lucky bandicoot that he was), he took a detour and started to wander along the sandy shores of his island home to take in the tropical, calming scenery. Just for the heck of it, not having a care in the world due to his head always being clear, on top of his laid back personality. He sometimes wished that everyone could be as nonchalant as he was. Especially Coco. The young inventor always seemed to have an aura of vigilance surrounding her at all times no matter what mood she seemed to find herself in.

But given the Bandicoots bitter rivalry with the N Team over the course of the years and all the events and schemes that followed it, (the Cortex Vortex, The Time Twister, Elementals, Twinsanity Island and the Evil Twins, Evil Crash, the NV) Crash didn't think that that would happen in the near future anytime soon. The bandicoot reflected back on that while his feet took him tword the far eastern side of N Sanity Beach.

* * *

The interior portion of the evil academic institution was something to be desired. Water dripped from the decrepit, leaky ceilings overhead, the dark hallways of Madam Amberley's were only illuminated by the dim lightbulbs hanging on the walls, reflecting the light and bouncing off of the dusty floors. Some parts of the hard floors were chipped and weathered due to the acid seeping up from the flooded underground boiler room. Groups of scarab bugs scurried along in some places, cobwebs and spiders decorated multiple objects in another. The academy did however have robot janitors to assess with the cleaning (even if chores were only carried out once every three weeks) while the students studied for their upcoming exams and finals. Those who actually studied and didn't slack off or cut class that is, like a good handful of students. Hall monitors were on guard at their post in some corridors, armed with a flashlight. Their allies were laying low confined in various rooms, twiddling paper airplanes in their hands, ready to strike when the signal arose. The hallways that had them were lined with dented lockers and loose, broken shelves.

Neo and Nina carefully tip toed around, with caution and a full awareness to their situation. If they could make it out of here without getting caught and drawing attention to themselves, it would be a miracle for Neo. The quicker he could exit this place, the better. He didn't want to add to the discomforting position he was already in. While Nina had grown to be somewhat accustomed to the way things operated around the academy, the fearful memories of a cruel, humiliating childhood started to overtake her uncle. He sniffled and could feel the tears staring to build up in the corners of his eyes but he scratched at them so they wouldn't spill. Which was the very thing that symbolized the embarrassing nickname that his fellow students had christened him with. Neo pushed the memories back down to where they came from, completely unaware that they would be back very soon.

As they proceeded down another long hallway, they caught sight of a robot janitor sweeping the floor a few feet away, shooing away the robot dummies if they mindlessly wandered twords him. He was so focused on the task at hand that he didn't even notice the pair. Both Cortex's took refuge behind objects jutting out from the wall (a bookcase and a stack of glass containers housing mutated animals such as a frog with bolts protruding from either side of it's head and a small kangaroo like creature with talon hands and an extra eye. It was foaming at the mouth and scratching at the inside of it's transparent prison. It didn't want to be confined, it wanted out to roam around freely. A long tounge shot out of it's mouth, it collided with the container with a loud, wet smack. It caused Nina to jump. These altered animals were the results of evil experiments from the Biology class since "bio" meant life.)

Raising a finger to his lips, Neo gestured the signal to be silent. Nina noticed and kept quiet, though her curiosity was on full blast. Readying his ray gun, the scientist took aim at a bell next to a classroom door. Closing one eye in order to get a more precise aim, he fired the plasma shot. Multiple ears shot up in an immediate reaction to the clang. Moments later a group of students dashed out, trampling the janitor, sweeping him away with them and giggling like the mischievous kids that they were. Turning back around to face Nina, Neo was greeted with a shocked, wide eyed expression. "What? This is what I had to do while I was combing the dorms trying to find you." He shrugged before continuing their walk twords Madam Amberly's office, completely unconcerned that students lurked around the next corner in the dark, waiting to strike.

"As soon as they waltz down this corridor, we've got them right where we want them." A Brat Girl twirled a rope in her hands, while a goth like boy snickered from the opposite side of the hall. They were hidden in the shadows, taking refuge behind the bookcases among other Brat Girls. Some of which tried to squish the hoards of bugs that crawled around at the base of their feet. The students had to place their hands over their mouths in order to not make a sound of discomfort for the pests that scuttled around.

Heading down that very hall, Neo took a deep breath to try and calm the anxiety in his nerves. He was finding it difficult to do so. "I definitely don't wanna come back here ever again and I get the sense that you don't want to either right?" His ears pricked up when he didn't receive a response right away which started to worry him even more. "Nina?" Looking over his shoulder, he found that Nina had stopped in her tracks. Her eyes were glued to a photo on the wall, one that she had never noticed before until now, "What's the holdup?" He wondered.

The goth girl pointed in front of her. With her head titled at a forty five degree angle, Nina's eyes were solely focused on a photograph of a former student from years ago. Clothed in the same attire as her with the white and blue, alongside a red tie, except for having a blue vest and shorts rather than a dress like hers. A set of red rubber gloves and boots covered his hands and feet: he had short black curly hair and pale yellow skin. A small, silver lowercase N was branded on his forehead. Two teal parakeets were perched just so on his shoulders and both his arms and his hands were at his side. There was a small, almost mischievous smile curling his lips. He looked all too familiar to the girl and pretty soon, her eyes widened in comprehension while a dash of reality hit Nina like a wave. Gasping, Nina quickly took a step back in surprise and looked at her uncle. "This is you and the twins before you evolved them, which actually sent them to the 10th dimension isn't it Uncle Neo?" The niece of Cortex had to admit, aside from that small smirk on his face, her uncle was quite adorable as a kid.

Neo almost had to force himself to look upon the picture, knowing in his mind that he would regret it, "Hm? Yes, yes, that was me, from like nineteen years ago. Like I said I was the most popular student here. Everyone except N Gin and Brio all loathed me for being a genius. And why is that photo still dangling on the wall in the first place?" He groaned, placing his hands over his face. "I will never be able unsee that image now. Come on let's pick up the pace and get you unenrolled shall we?" The scientist could feel himself trembling with each step he took forward but Nina didn't want to continue on just yet.

"What's the rush? I mean, I want to exit this place too but I'm starting to get the feeling that something's seriously troubling you. Is it connected to the academy here? And why are you freaked out by a photo?" Neo's eyes dialated with sheer dread as his brain processed those questions. The memories that he had tried to suppress pushed their way forward into his frontal lobe. He didn't want to lie but the devil began pulling the invisible strings that were attached to him, causing him to do just that.

"No reason. Nothing's wrong, what gave you that impression?" Cortex felt himself starting to sweat. Nina raised an eyebrow, which proved her concerns. He knew he'd have to suck it up and tell his niece the truth. She would understand wouldn't she? Cortex had said it himself, he needed Nina by his side, "Well the truth is...ahhh!" Neo tripped on an outstretched leg from the shadows, landing hard on his stomach. As high pitched laughter, similar to a hyenas soon rang in his ears, a sharp pain resulting from the harsh impact made it's way down the scientists left side, opposite to where previous injuries resided.

"Now!" The teenage goth boy named Bruce (who was known to everyone as "Brute Force") yelled. Bruce was a tall muscular boy who was built like a brick wall though he was not the smartest student. He had anger issues and mocked everyone who tried to go against him. And due to his lack of smarts and highly aggressive behavior, he was currently the only student to have been held back the longest. Over two decades with no hope for a degree but he was the one who had given Neo his nickname all those years ago. Amberly and the Brat Girls worshiped him, while everyone else feared him. Every school had it's own bully and the academy was no exception. The lead Brat Girl flung the rope forward and lassoed Neo's ankles and her ally roped his wrists before he could get up. Giving a mighty tug together, they both reeled Cortex tword them like a fish on a hook, wrenching him down the hall with brute force. He was their catch of the day. A smirk appeared on the boys face as Cortex was dragged closer. He clearly recognized Neo from a long time ago. "Well, well, well. Lookie what we reeled in as the catch of the day: Crybaby Cortex. Madam Amberly keeps asking me to replay and break down the whole rundown on you and your 'incident' from years ago and I gotta say, it is still rich." 

Neo's blood ran cold as he heard that nickname, while all the humiliating, repressed memories of his younger days in the academy all came back to him. This is what had been troubling him and now the horror was real... so very real. Whimpers of fright stared to escape his mouth.

Whistling into a megaphone which amplified her voice and made their creator squirm, the rest of the Brat Girls allies came out from hiding and dashed twords their leader. They all cackled in delight. Catching the two figures was easier than they had expected. "Hello Nina, Madam Amberly knew you'd have to come back eventuality and now, here you are."

"Yeah, well I'm not here to stay guys." The goth girl stated, raising her metal fists at them, ready to sock it to them if needed. "And what are they talking about Uncle Neo?" Aside from not knowing about Smiling Jimmy's and that tragic past, this nickname was all new. Nina could only figure that is was equally as embarrassing as what his family had put him through. Out of the corner of her eye, Nina saw tears in Neo's along with something that she never thought she would see in her uncle...

Pure dread.

* * *

Crash enjoyed a good walk once and a while. He always had time for it in his schedule that was pretty straightforward: eat, sleep, be a hero when he was needed and comfort his siblings. He prayed his sister would be good when the time came to revisit Dr. Jacobson. Sure Coco had hissed at Crunch and threatened Cortex but it wasn't as if she always did stuff like that. It came as a result of both anxiety and getting worked up about something happening to Crash. The older marsupial knew Coco was always worried about him but that's what happened when it came to putting your family's needs before your own.

Between now and when the time came for therapy, all he could do was try to keep his sister calm and make sure she didn't lose her mind and her temper. He didn't want Coco to attempt another threatening attack on his creator. Sure he was fully aware that she nor Crunch could stand Cortex but that was their own perspective. Crash himself however was just built differently. He could tell the scientist was probably having it rough, especially when it came to trying to eliminate the bandicoot himself. Failed attempt after failed attempt. Cortex would try to take over the island constantly but Crash would foil his plans, it was an endless and viscous cycle. Crash assumed that Cortex wasn't always the deranged, madman he had been when they first encountered one another. Teaming up alongside his nemesis for a trip to an alternate dimension, Crash had noticed all the karma that had been thrown Cortex's way due to previous problems in the past. Maybe it was due to the stress caused by Uka Uka or the small number of people who actually cared enough to be concerned about him? Perhaps something from his childhood? The Australian bandicoot was close to compiling a list of potential ideas.

Whatever it was however, Crash knew that hate wasn't the primary feeling Cortex had always had tword the orange marsupial. He had given Cortex that hug when them and their little group returned from Totem Hokum and even to Crash's own amazement, he couldn't beleive the scientist didn't try to shove him aside and paint an annoyed scowl upon his face. Even after Cortex had jumped into Crash's arms to avoid getting skewered, Crash awaited his creators demand to put him down but that response never came. He gladly welcomed it, taking advantage of the opportunity. Stopping briefly he sat down on a rock and scratched his head, trying to think of what that was all about. Did Cortex actually have a sliver of faith and trust in him? Crash assumed he did. The feeling that he been swirling around in the pit of his stomach had moved up into his brain. Alongside Nina, Cortex did care about him too, he wasn't completely heartless and cruel.

Crash knew one thing: he had loved Cortex from day one, there was no denying that. As he looked twords the sea, he started to think. Did the scientist feel the same?

He continued to ponder that as he stood up, heading back twords his family's bungalow home to await dinner. The bandicoot hero had a feeling that after group therapy, him and Cortex's current rocky, normally hate filled relationship would blossom into something entirely new and hopefully things would smooth over between his sister and Cortex. Crash just had to stay positive like he always did. However he was completely unaware of what his creator really thought about him and also who his beloved sister was working with.


	21. On The Surface and Under Wraps

N Gin, being as shocked as he was, lost his footing and stumbled backwards, almost dropping the delicate Power Crystal in the process. It slipped from his grip and nearly hit the stone floor but he managed to regain his balance and lunge forward. N Gin quickly snatched it back up mid air before it could shatter. The Power Crystals were sensitive objects with unimaginable powers, capable of powering large pieces of machinery and hypnotizing those that were weak minded. They had just recently been used in Cortex's Iceberg Lab to help power the Psychetron. The cyborg stood there trembling, his grip on it quickly escalating, he didn't know if he should tell Uka Uka immediately or wait it out for a while. He needed to think about this one. This was a huge discovery and N Gin would also be wracked with guilt if it were to break.

"N Gin!" Tropy called.

Tensing up out of fear and surprise, he felt a cold shiver shoot throughout his veins, all the way to his fingertips but he was still able to answer with a single word, "Coming!" The remark that exited his mouth came out as a half tremble. Moments, which felt like hours seemed to pass and as N Gin still held onto the sharp object, hypnotized by it's beauty, he started to phase out a bit. He managed to stop himself however when his feet started moving underneath him and he bumped into the wooden door of Cortex's closet. As he was pulled out of his trance, he directed his attention off the stone. Everyone knew how rare these crystals were. Most people would kill just for the chance to hold one for even a few precious seconds. How long had Cortex had this Power Crystal smuggled and hoarded away from the team? "Master is gonna have a lot of explaining to do when he returns but the serum and Coco should assist us with that." Making a mental note, the cyborg ran back downstairs. In doing so, he carefully took the crystal and concealed it under his coat so he wouldn't get distracted by it again. The answer was made quite clear that he was going to have to tell Uka Uka and them. And possibly Coco? They would either all be in shock about this, angry that Cortex had kept this hidden from everyone or a mixture of both. It was probably the latter.

"Gee, slow down N Gin, we don't need you collapsing on us now especially since our scheme will soon be set in motion. Also, what took you so long, it's literally only a piece of paper?" Uka Uka demanded when he came sprinting back into the room at a blistering pace. Uka Uka and Tropy gave an annoyed look to one another before focusing their eyes on the mentally crazed cyborg, their faces not breaking from the emotion they settled on. Brio's curiosity was on full capacity as well as he hauled himself up off the couch. The team could only imagine what had their friend all riled up. Nobody had a clue as to what feelings were lurking underneath.

N Gin placed a hand on his knee and raised one finger on his opposite one, taking a moment to catch his breath. He sucked in a breath that almost came out like a wheeze as he exhaled it, before hanging his head in sorrow. "Sorry oh great Uka Uka but I was just placing the pro/con list back in Cortex's room. When I started to head out, that's when I discovered this under his nightstand." He revealed the crystal. "I thought we did a thorough investigation of his room, clearly we didn't cause we were in a rush. Just like Cortex who failed to turn Crash evil due to his impatient, self absorbed nature."

Brio was the most surprised out of the group, his jaw hit the floor in shock and he rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Sprinting forward in a hurry, he grabbed the crystal, yanking it out of N Gin's grasp with a great force. He didn't care at the moment if his friend would be mad at him. Locking eyes with his colleague from the academy, the chemist didn't detect any traces of anger. Turning the glimmering stone over in his hands, Brio opened his mouth but no words came out for a mere thirty seconds. It felt real but he didn't think it was.

"Am I dreaming or is this what I think it is?" He finally managed. Tropy extended his arm and pinched the chemist hard on the top of his hand. "Ow!" Brio yelped, sucking in a sharp breath due to the sudden pain. Quickly pulling his arm away, he gently rubbed it to soothe the affliction given to him by the time master who plucked the crystal from his greedy hand. Sure it hurt but that also meant that Brio was fully awake and conscious and that the teams current situation was reality rather than fantasy. "Thank you. Ok, not dreaming. I was the one who searched under Cortex's bed, how come I didn't notice that, since it's hard to miss?! See this is what happens when we rush things! We overlook the small things but this is legit, this is a hundred percent real. Then again, who in their right mind would try to forge or try to imitate a precious Power Crystal or even a gem now that I think about it, since gems are more powerful?" Pinching his brows together and shaking his head in disbelief, Brio groaned and after a minute of standing there in self pity, he spoke once again, "Where do you guys suppose he obtained this?"

"Perhaps this is still the Master Crystal from his Super Cortex Vortex scheme? Maybe he kept it for himself?" N Gin guessed, as he thumbed his chin. He was in deep thought and now, so was everyone else. Going back and digging through every scheme.

"Judging by fact you're still wearing the chef outfit, aren't you still prepping food?" Tropy pointed out, as he took in the scientists attire, thinking to himself where he had acquired it.

N Gin snapped back to reality in an instant, "Oh shoot, thanks for reminding me!" N Gin once again dashed away to finish up his culinary task, panicking both internally and externally as he did.

"With how slow his brain works sometimes, we could be here all day with N Gin trying to singlehandedly sort through every one of Dr. Cortex's various plots." Uka Uka remarked. "And I don't feel we have that kind of time. Cortex and his niece could waltz through the front door at any moment."

N Gin carefully removed the simmering pan of food from the hot surface, placing it on a cooling plate. He collected a spoon and scooped some pasta into a bowl since it would be messy with the two types of sauce he had combined together and he wasn't going to chance it by using a plate. Rummaging around in the cupboards once more, N Gin pulled out a plate to place over it, before setting it in the microwave. It would more than likely have to be warmed back up by the time Cortex and Nina returned. He rejoined the team moments later. "Ok, Cortex's dinner, ready to be reheated if needed and I did not burn it to a crisp. Success! Just need the master and Coco and we'll be all set. We should alert Coco first."

"Even though we all know how greedy the master can be, this looks too small to be the Master Crystal. Besides, that plot for world domination was many years ago." Brio noted. "This is just your ordinary, normal sized Power Crystal." There was a sudden pause in his speech before he spoke again, his eyes widening in discern. "Neo's so dead when we get our hands on him, if he ever comes back here from wherever he went!" He screamed. "I could just..." Reaching his arms out in front of him, hands started curling into tight fists. It was a similar scenario to what Coco had done yesterday. But now the roles were reversed and Brio was now in her position as the one imagining strangling Cortex. That angry outburst made everyone else cross their arms and express a sly smile. Soon, N Brio noticed that, realized what he had said during the teams investigation and retracted his hands, crossing his own arms and huffing afterwards. "Dang it, I'm sinking to your guy's level!" Brio stomped his foot in anger.

"You said yourself that we needed to be smart and not start accusing him of stuff. Look who's not taking his own advice." Uka Uka's mouth soon turned into a smirk like everyone else. "The tables have turned."

"Oh shut up, I know what I said! I say we go back up there and comb his room very carefully one more time! Who's with me?!" A raise of everyone's hands, excluding Uka Uka (who simply gestured yes by shaking himself around) and a nod of their heads indicated an agreement. "Let's go! And somebody recollect and reposition the spybots!" Brio urged. "Come on, chop chop, let's go, go, go before Cortex gets back!" Dashing forward, he bolted up the stairs as fast as N Gin had done earlier. The others followed behind him in close pursuit.

 _'Deja Vue, here we go again. At least Brio didn't taunt us this time.'_ N Gin thought.

* * *

A knife came down, slicing through a Wumpa Fruit like it was soft butter. Crunch was prepping an early dinner as he said he would: slicing up various fruits for on the side and mixing some garden fresh veggies into a bowl, humming to himself as he went. The family pets gathered around at the base of his feet, their mouths opened wide, hoping some scraps would fall to the floor. Their tounges hanging out of their mouths as Polar and Pura stood on their back legs and started panting and meowing. Noticing this, Crunch flicked some pieces to the floor using the culinary tool and let them have at it, he didn't like seeing anyone in the family hungry. Crunch enjoyed the life of a good guy and being an older brother, of course anyone who had worked under Dr. Cortex in the past could tell other people differently due to their own experiences.

Crash entered the house and shut the door moments later, the bright smile that worked it's way onto his face during his brief stroll down both the beach and memory lane hadn't disappeared yet. Green eyes lit up in delight when he saw the stack of Wumpa Fruits that Crunch was cutting up. In a sizzling pan were some long, stringy egg noodles, various veggies from their garden and melted butter. "You take care of the weeds?" Crunch asked. Crash nodded. "Good, thanks for doing that for me." The younger of the two brothers didn't notice Coco in the kitchen. He peered around a corner into the living room. Nothing. Maybe she was relaxing like she said she would? "Dinner's almost ready," Reaching his hand out tword a wooden rack above the stove, Crunch grabbed a pepper grinder and ground up a tiny amount on top, before pulling the pan from the heat and setting it in the middle of the table. "Could you go get your sister while I finish up here?" Crash gave a swift head nod and sprinted off, passing Aku Aku along the way. After watching him disappear, the oldest of the siblings collected the plates and silverware and neatly set the table.

Coco was laying on her stomach with her legs crossed in bed finishing up the grandiose ballad playlist, while also pondering and trying to make sense of varying scenarios: Cortex, head over heels for her brother, Dr. Jacobson's theory about her and her rivalry with Nina that the girl had mentioned back in Iceberg Lab and her secret team up with Tropy and them. _'Nina is a different chracter but she's related to Cortex and I can't stand him...so that means I can't possibly tolerate her. Could I?'_ The answer to her own question was said out loud to herself rather than being answered in her head. "No my anger is strictly directed at her relative and nothing more." Coco, soon started to feel herself getting overwhelmed. She hit the resume button on the playlist and looking upon the screen, Coco only had one song to go. _'In the home stretch here, let's go.'_ The brainy marsupial's hunch was right, the collection of grandiose balled love songs certainly was something she would have guessed Cortex to make. Not in a million, billion years. "How long has he felt this way about you brother?" Coco pursed her lips tightly as she cupped her hands under her chin. She was totally focused. "Maybe ever since you were a subject in his test chambers all those long years ago?"

As Coco pulled the flashdrive from her computer and closed it, she could feel her brothers presence coming down the hall. Sneakers creaking on a hardwood floor was kinda hard to miss. Green eyes saw Crash poke his head into the room. "Hi brother." The aroma of food soon swept through the air and hit her nose. "Smells like dinner. Good I'm starving, let me just wash up first." Crash licked his lips and hightailed it back to the kitchen. "And don't try to eat my food too, you're not the only hungry family member you know." Coco joked. Crash stopped suddenly, pondered that for a few breif seconds and then simply shrugged it off as he continued back tword the kitchen. His younger sister rolled her eyes. "Don't ever change your silly ways or personality brother."

* * *

Coco entered the small bathroom and washed her hands thoroughly, cupping them briefly to splash some cold water on her face. "I always thought Cortex was heartless, guess I was wrong. Then again, it just raises my suspicions even more to think that he may just be plotting some kind of evil deed right under us." Looking at her own reflection in the mirror, she brushed her hair back, glancing at the communicator that N Gin bestowed upon her. "You were telling me the truth N Gin but that doesn't mean I fully trust your gang of evildoers. I'm still keeping my guard up but I do want to hear the truth for myself." The female bandicoot knew from after years of encounters and the martial arts training that she had been doing is that anything could happen at anytime. It didn't hurt to sometimes be overly cautious and prepared.

"Coco, are you there?" Speak of the devil, it was him.

The unanticipated feedback that followed the bluetooth connection almost made Coco jump to the ceiling in fright, "Gah, you almost scared the living daylights out of me! And yeah, I'm here N Gin, did Cortex come back yet?" She couldn't wait to see the reaction of pure horror upon Cortex's face. To get the information straight from the horses mouth would be probably the best thing to happen to her. A little slice of satisfaction. Sadly the answer that was presented wasn't the one that Coco had hoped for.

"Yeah...no, not yet. Sorry for the startle. Listen, I've got some major news and it just couldn't wait until you got back. I found something out, well, I uncovered it but I thought you and the N Team needed to know this asap. You're going to want to sit down if you're not already. You're in for quite a shock." He took a minute to ready himself. N Gin wasn't so sure if he himself was even mentally prepared to tell Coco about the sudden new development. He was just going to have to come right out with it.

"Alright. What's got you all in a tizzy?" Coco took a seat on the edge of the bathtub as she tried her best to prep herself.

"Well, after you questioned me about the other half of the pro/con list, I went to set it back in it's place on the masters shrine. As I turned to head out so I could finish up dinner, something from underneath his nightstand caught my eye. Two words: Power Crystal." N Gin almost instantly felt releived after getting that out in the open, especially to Coco who was now sitting frozen in place. No response followed that surprising revelation, now had the cyborg concerned as he tapped on the little device in his ear. "Coco? You still there? This thing still working?" N Gin did program these right didn't he?

 _'Power Crystal.'_ Those words played like a scratched record in Coco's mind. Her breathe catching in her throat. The astonishing news that had made N Gin freeze was having the same effect on her. The girl didn't know what to think or even how to respond, she was taking a minute for herself. "Y-yeah I'm still h-here and I could've sworn you said you uncovered a rare Power Crystal in Cortex's room?"

"I did, you heard that correctly, the teams going nuts over here. Brio yanked it from my grasp just so he could hold it for a split second. He for a moment didn't even think that it was the real deal. Oh but he himself said it was legit and it is, even I got mesmerized by it and almost walked into the door on Cortex's closet. They're entrancing that's for sure, they make some people do crazy things. Pretty sure it's known as 'crystal craziness' according to some, which is actually a fitting name. You'll see the crystal with your own two eyes soon enough, I've eaten up enough of your time already. Just needed to get that news out in the open." N Gin figured he better let Coco get back to what she was doing.

"Right, over and out." The connection was lost as Coco started a slow stroll tword the kitchen.

Crunch's eyes lit up in satisfaction when he saw his sister enter. "There's our one and only sister, ready for dinner?" Coco nodded as her brother sat the plate in front of her. "Haven't heard you yell once today. I'm glad you're taking time for yourself. It's nice to know that Cortex isn't the main thing on your mind." Crunch patted her shoulder and went back to the stove to make himself up a plate.

Coco could feel the nervousness starting to sweat it's way out of her and a hollow pit starting to form in her gut at the same time. It had fashioned itself in her stomach once more. She looked at Crash from the other side of the table, who twirled some noodles on a fork and began slurping them down. When he twirled some more and began to bring them to his lips, they uncurled themselves from around the utensil and landed in a pile amongst the rest. Crash thought it was due to the sauce. He diminished the struggle soon after as he stabbed some of the uncooked Wumpa Fruits that were on a side plate instead, not bothering to try for the pasta again. As he ate it, Crash beamed with happiness, giving a thumbs up of approval for another culinary creation, even if he only had one bite of noodle.

"Yeah, it is nice. You have no idea..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting interesting. Thank to everyone who has enjoyed this tale so far. Really appreciate it guys. 
> 
> Flashback/backstory time come the next chapter. That chapter's gonna take a while since I need to research traumatic backstories. Plus I'm trying to think of a new oneshot completly unrelated to this story and the oneshot series but still Crashtex focused. Maybe based around the new game? XD Fingers crossed. Until next time, keep smiling! And Happy Halloween. It's like 2 am here currently. Going back to bed. 
> 
> EDIT 10/31/2020: Finally got 1000 hits to this story. Thank you all. <3


End file.
